Naruto of the Blue Sharingan
by jackalope33
Summary: Abducted at birth by Orochimaru, tortured and experimented on by him, Naruto is finally out in the world and meets the demon of the mist, how will this affect his future?
1. Prologue

Prologue

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The village Hidden in the Leaves was in chaos. The 9-tails demon fox had just appeared in the middle of nowhere and all able ninja were trying to hold it off and buy time for the Fourth Hokage to appear, but even their strongest techniques were shrugged off by the fox.

"Hold firm!" shouted the Third Hokage as he fired off another fireball "We must not let it inside the village!". Everyone looked in fear as the fox charged up its own technique –a Bijuudama(Tailed Beast Ball).

Suddenly, a giant toad rivaling the size of the demon appeared on top of it and stopped the beast from firing the ball that would have reduced the Leaf to a crater. "Lord Fourth!" was heard all around as the Fourth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves finally appeared, but unseen by all was a bundle on his arms. Upon closer inspection, one could see it was a baby with whiskered cheeks.

"You have done well, ninja of the Leaf" he smiled "take a break, and let me handle the rest". In the next few minutes, the ninja of the Leaf witnessed why he was an SS-ranked ninja with flee on sight in the bingo books. He systematically defeated the demon they have collectively been struggling against in the last hour by himself.

While all this was happening, a pair of yellow eyes watched in anger, greed and jealousy ' _Damn you Minato!_ ' The figure thought.

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A/N: well after the mostly failed attempt in my first few short stories, I have decided to enlist the help of ZVoltrin for a story that will hopefully be more successful.


	2. Jugo, Escape and mystery girl?

Chapter 1

Jugo, Escape and mystery girl?

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A nine-year old blond child with whisker marks on his face was sitting in his cell. Bored. " _Walls, walls, walls, and guess what? More walls! Yay_!" he thought sarcastically but was replaced with excitement as he thought of earlier when he played tag with a new friend, Jugo.

* * *

-Flashback-

Naruto was thrown in an arena with another orange-haired kid. "Hey! What's the big idea? I already fought someone yesterday! My next fight was supposed to be tomorrow!" he shouted. He was having a nice dream; it included lots of running and more importantly no walls!

Naruto snapped out of his daydream when he remembered the orange haired boy in front of him. Wait... Orange!? This can't be too bad! Anyone who has orange was alright in his books! "Hey there! My name is Naruto" he greeted "what's your name?" He asked but all he got was silence.

"They call me Jugo" The orange haired boy answered "and they said that they would let me go if I kill you!" he suddenly turned into something else. He grew spikes of what seemed to be metal from his arm which grew at least 3 times its previous size.

He charged forward as Naruto's eyes widened making the blonde child jump back. He landed on the wall and used his chakra to stick to the wall. Good thing he mastered it a month ago. Naruto started running around on the walls while Jugo was spinning in circles.

"Stop running!" he screamed as he charged looking to squash Naruto. Naruto, seeing the impending danger, moved a bit up the wall as Jugo punched the jumped down and used Jugo as a springboard to jump on the opposite wall.

"Tag, you're it!" he stuck his tongue out childishly. This continued for the next half an hour until Jugo got tired and reverted to his previous state and fell unconscious.

-Flashback end-

* * *

"Yep today was fun" he smiled. Unfortunately Orochimaru had decided that it was time to move him and now he got another cell "I liked my old cell too" he pouted.

Suddenly red lights started flashing and his cell's door opened. "Code red! Code red! Jugo has escaped!" Naruto's eyes widened as some ninja ran in a direction he presumed to be Jugo's cell

"Looks like he's up for another round" Naruto grinned "Too bad I got to go, maybe next time, Jugo" He thought as he slipped out of his cell door and made his way around the hideout. Just as he was about to turn another corner, he heard voices

"Damn, he escaped, Orochimaru is going to kill us now" a voice said

"Or worse, use us as one of his test subjects! Better get going!"

Naruto cursed "Damn now I got to hurry up and get as far as I can!" so he did. But as a nine year old kid – one with tones of energy, but still a nine year old kid none the less – he couldn't go very far.

After about one hour of full on sprinting, he came across a clearing and a river, just as he was about to take another step towards the river, his vision suddenly blurred and he fell forward. The last thing he remembered seeing was a girl with long black hair and brown eyes. " _She's pretty_ " he thought as he finally lost conscious.

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AN: alright! So, judging by the 8 favorites and 18 alerts in less than 24 hours, this fic seems to be at least mildly interesting? xD

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Reviews

Threws: thanks, glad that it interests you! I am not quite at the level where I can write complicated plots and sentences nor can I get to 1000 words in a chapter… yet. But hey! At least I got this chap out in a bit over 24 hours right? Also yes, there is a paring, it is NarutoxFuxMei. Originally it was just Fu but ZVoltrin suggested Mei so I added her on his request.

Novier: well I guess that the chap is so short is mainly because it was a prologue (which isn't very long anyways) but also because I am not capable of writing that much at this point. But this chap is a bit longer (more than twice the length) so I hope that is better.

Just to all the readers, i have looked at every single reader's profile to show my appreciation and will answer every single one of your reviews or PM's


	3. Kyubi

Chapter 2

Kyuubi

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Naruto woke up in a sewer that was filled with eerie green light. "Damn... running for that long was tiring, even for me!" he muttered to himself "And I really have to ask the fox if I can change this, It's not fun waking up in a sewer".

With that in mind, he started walking through all the bends and twists of pipes until he reached a large room that had a giant cage with kanji of "seal" written on a piece of paper, right on middle where the cage would open, and seemingly it was the only thing that was keeping the cage locked. Suddenly in the darkness of the cage, an eye opened with an red iris.

" **Hello Naruto** " greeted the thing inside of the cage.

"Hello... Kyuubi" Naruto smiled as he sat down. It's been a month since he had met Kyuubi.

* * *

-Flashback-

Naruto sat panting on his cell floor "Damn it! Work with me chakra!". Today, instead of fighting more people, a young man wearing purple clothes and a pair of glasses came in and took him outside. He pointed at a tree and told Naruto to climb it without hands. He then demonstrated how one would achieve it with chakra control.

Naruto spent the rest of the day trying to climb the tree under the boy – Kabuto's watch. When it was time to go back in his cell, he had just managed to start climbing a step and grasped the idea. That was around 3 hours ago; he was now practicing the "tree climbing" exercise on his cell wall. Eventually he just grew too tired and collapsed. And just as Naruto fell asleep, he was rudely woken up in time for his next fight.

Naruto slowly walked towards the arena, already dead on his feet. His opponent was a giant guy with huge bulging muscles wielding a club. _"Aww great, couldn't it be a lazy guy who liked to play shogi?_ " He internally moaned.

* * *

-Somewhere in the Hidden Leaf located in the Land of Fire –

A young child with a pineapple haircut was staring at the clouds when he suddenly sneezed. " _Troublesome_ " he thought as he went back to watching the clouds

* * *

-Back with Naruto-

He was broken out of his thoughts when a giant club came smashing down and he dodged just in time not to be turned into a pancake in the first strike."Whoa!" he shouted when he saw the miniature crater the strike had created.

While he was staring at the crater he never saw the foot that came crashing into his head, causing him to blackout in midair.

* * *

-Naruto's Mindscape-

Naruto woke up in a sewer with an eerie green lighting, his first thought? _"Damn that's creepy, I feel like there is a creature behind me_." Just to be sure he turned around to check. " _Nope, no creatures"_ He sighed happily. He turned back around and stared at the pipes, they all seem to be forming some sort of a hallway.

"I wonder where this all leads…" he thought as he started walking forward. After what seemed like he walked forever, the pipes suddenly split, leaving him in a wide room with a giant golden cage ahead of him. On the cage was a piece of paper with the kanji of "seal" on it. He starred in the darkness of the cage but fell backwards when a giant red eye stared back at him, startling him.

" **Who dares disturb the rest of the Kyuubi!** " it roared. Naruto was hit with a wave of killing intent that froze him, rendering him unable to speak. "Well child? I'm waiting!" he prompted.

"M-m-y n-name i-i-s N-naruto" Naruto stuttered.

" **Well Naruto, I haven't eaten in many years, what would you do if I told you that you are my next meal?** " the fox smiled, showing all his pearly white teeth.

At this Naruto looked depressed, "well then I guess that's it for me" he smiled "it was fun while it lasted".

The fox stared at him " **You interest me child. I shall let you live… for now. Not that I could kill you anyways, damn you Yondaime Hokage!** " At this, some undefined red liquid came creeping out of the cage "I will lend you some of my chakra, you will feel but a drop of my full power!" at this, the now identified liquid chakra started wrapping around Naruto.

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-Real world-

Less than a minute had passed since the club- wielding fighter had kicked Naruto across the room. Naruto lay on the floor, motionless.

Then as if he was just pretending, he rose from the ground. But there were some noticeable differences. He now had red eyes with a slit in them, his whisker marks on his cheeks were now darker and more defined, and last of all – his nails were now longer and more resembling claws. In a flash, he sped across the room and started hitting the giant guy with a vicious barrage that ended with a drop kick that finally led the giant man to fall.

Naruto's new features receded back and his usual features returned. He was then hit with a wave of tiredness, like he had just been running the whole day and just stopped. "Uh, I'm just gonna crash here" he muttered as he fell asleep.

-Flashback end-

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AN: well here it is, the newest chapter of Naruto of the Blue Sharingan! I'm pleased to see that more people are following (39 people) and favoriting (18 people) this story =). I hope you all enjoyed this longer chapter (the longest I have ever done!). Also I forgot to mention in the last chapter but... who do you think the girl is? I think it's pretty obvious.

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Reviews:

Thegodofanime: sorry but I already have Fu and Mei as the paring and I already planned to keep Sasuke male for this story (anything to add ZVoltrin) -Honestly It wasn't up to me but rather jackalope33, since for me Naruto deserves every girl in the Naruto verse(ZVoltrin).

Novrier: thanks! I have tried to add in a bit more descriptions in this chap ;). And I added Mei, because this story is technically a collaboration between me and ZVoltrin (so we basically share the story) so when it comes down to it, I believe that he will help me with Mei, seeing as he suggested her and I want to thank him for helping. Hope this explanation is good enough =).

Novrier: Look bro, I only SUGGESTED him to add Mei in it – If he didn't want to then he didn't have to but what's done is done, it's his story so technically he did take responsibility as an author. – ZV

TiberSeptim: I'll try =)

Threws: well I made 1000 words in this chap (including AN and reviews) =). And just a bit over a day and a half I believe!


	4. Great and Beautifuly Womanly Haku-sempai

Chapter 3

The Great and Beautifully Womanly Haku-Sempai!

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After chatting with the fox for a while, Naruto finally felt a pull at the back of his head. " **Time to go brat** " the Kyuubi pointed out.

"See you late-... whenever I see you again" Naruto sweat-dropped when he realized that he still didn't know how to go into his mindscape anytime he wanted. The last thing he saw before he faded away was the amused smirk of the great tailed beast.

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-Outside-

"I swear you're too kind, Haku" came a male voice.

Naruto groaned and opened his eyes a little "It's too early, keep it down" he groaned out. When he finally took notice of who was in the room he saw a slightly muscular man with pale skin in his early to mid-twenties, he had short spikey brown hair and baggy pants. He wore bandages like a mask and had a giant sword strapped to his back.

He started panicking and started looking for an escape " _Just my luck! I'm in a room with the Demon of the Hidden Mist and a Mist... ANBU? Shouldn't the ANBU be trying to capture him and not sit there being scolded by him!?_ " noticing his confused look, the Demon of the Mist –Zabuza Momochi- looked at the ANBU.

"Take the mask off Haku" he ordered to which the ANBU- now named Haku- complied. As he took it off, it was revealed to be the girl who was on the clearing he passed out in.

"You're pretty" Naruto blurted out suddenly. His eyes widened as his hands went to cover his mouth.

Haku grew a tick mark "I AM A MALE!" he shouted as Zabuza roared with laughter and Naruto paled.

Said Uzumaki started hyperventilating "I'm not gay, I'm not gay…" He repeated over and over, causing Zabuza to laugh even harder, and even Haku smiled at that.

After Zabuza's laughter died down, he grew serious again "So what brings you to this town? From what Haku told me, you were exhausted and dropped when you arrived" he said ignoring Haku's angry mutter of "and squashing the poor flowers I was going to pick".

Naruto looked at Zabuza "I was escaping from one of Orochimaru's bases" Haku's eyes widened.

"Orochimaru, as in the snake sannin Orochimaru?" he asked.

Naruto nodded "Yep, pale skin, creepy look, that's the one".

Zabuza snorted "Yeah right kid, every rogue ninja worth his bounty knows that anyone that isn't Orochimaru or one of his ninja, enter but don't leave any of his bases, It's one of the dark secrets one gets from listening at bars, It's said that all five of the great villages had tried to infiltrate it numerous times none of which was successful... Now tell me" he grabbed his blade and lowered it at Naruto "Why are you here?" He asked as he let out a tinge of killing intent.

However being exposed to it so often in his life, Naruto barely noticed it as he glared at Zabuza "I am not lying" he growled "one of his experiments went crazy and caused enough commotion for me to escape" Naruto conveniently chose not to mention that it was partly his fault that Jugo went nuts.

Zabuza stared at the kid, inwardly he was impressed but outwardly he showed indifference ' _kid's got guts_ ' he admitted "Even so, what were you doing there in the first place? How do I know you didn't just hear that from a passing villager?" he asked. Whatever excuse he expected the blond kid to make up, he wasn't expecting the one Naruto told him.

"I know because, I was one of the experiments". This shocked both Zabuza and Haku, this kid, even younger than Haku, was an experiment of Orochimaru!? Unbelievable. But there was something in the way he said it, the way that neither of them could detect even a single trace of a lie. That was what finally convinced them that he was telling the truth.

After a moment of staring, Zabuza finally relented and dropped his sword "Fine I believe you, not many have the fire you have, especially not after what Orochimaru is said to have put them through" Naruto sighed "Also" Zabuza continued, "I have decided to train you" he said.

This time, both Naruto and Haku's eyes widened "WHAT?!" They shouted at the same time.

Zabuza smiled behind his bandages "You are a diamond in the rough kid, not many have the potential you have" And just like that, Naruto was to be trained by the Demon of the Mist himself.

Haku suddenly had an evil grin ' _time for payback'_ he thought "Naruto…" he called in a sickly sweet voice "since you are also training under Zabuza… you must call me the great and manly Haku-sempai!" he announced.

' _He's really enjoying this_ ' Zabuza thought with a sweat-drop.

Naruto gave him a deadpan look "OK great and..." Haku's smile widened "beautifully womanly Haku-sempai" and just like that, Haku's smile turned from one of triumph into one that promised torture.

Zabuza couldn't hold it back anymore as he let out another round of laughter when he saw Haku starting to chase Naruto and throwing ice-senbon – which Naruto showed an incredible agility in dodging despite Haku's accuracy and speed. 'Things are bound to get a lot more interesting with that kid around' he thought.

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AN : here's chap 3, sorry I couldn't post it earlier, I had a busy week and only got home around 9 till today.

Current stats:

24 favorites

53 alerts

1 community =)

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Reviews

Novier: Yes ZVoltrin is my co-author. As for the fight scenes… yeah I'm not very good with them and that was technically my first fight scene (the one-shots were just a part of a fight, not the full fight). Good example though! As for the Kurama scene… oops, I was trying to get him to come off as being dramatic during the first encounter (pretty much like a drama queen). As for being a creature of hatred…I believe after 9 years of being stuck in a cage would change it to be a creature of boredom and in desperate need of some form of entertainment. And I believe that Naruto argued that the tailed beasts were more than just primal beings and were capable of feeling other emotions.

spiritwolf35: I'll try but this is just my first real story so just bear with me.

Vaara1 : I'm trying, hope this is a bit better


	5. Spars and new jutsus

Chapter 4

Spars and new jutsus

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Having had enough of time being wasted, Zabuza asked Naruto and Haku to spar. Just to get an idea of what Naruto can do. "Enough! If you want to run around chasing each other, then do it as a spar, not some 5 year olds playing tag!"

Haku had an evil grin as he put on his mask, "Yes Zabuza" he said as he started attacking the unprepared ninja. "Hey! Don't I get some weapons or something?" he complained as he dodged the punches of Haku.

* * *

2 minutes later

"Hmm, not bad, you sure are fit enough." Haku's voice sounded much deeper from behind the mask as he kept attacking Naruto in hand to hand combat. He was right, Naruto had little trouble keeping up with Haku's impressive speed, but the overall technique was where Naruto was lacking. Haku methodically kept bombarding Naruto with strikes, without giving much of an opening for his opponent, who could only rely on his purely physical attributes and raw talent.

That wasn't enough though and soon Naruto was sent rolling after a powerful kick from the masked shinobi. "Damn it." Naruto growled, picking himself up, but Haku was not about to relent.

" **Ninja art: A thousand needles of death!** " Haku jumped into the air and before Naruto could even blink he saw what seemed like a whole cloud of needles going straight for him.

" **Water style: water wall**!" Naruto acted more on reflex, using the only actual ninja technique he knew for now, but it worked. A wall of highly pressurized water appeared in front of him and did a fine job shielding the blonde. The needles simply didn't have enough of a punch to pierce the otherwise relatively weak defensive jutsu. "Hey, that almost hit me!"

Naruto pointed accusingly at Haku, who landed some distance away and tilted his head, somewhat impressed by the way his opponent defended himself, though the moment Naruto released the jutsu he got showered in water and now stood there, water streaming off of him and onto the ground where it was forming a giant puddle of water from the water wall and melted senbon needles."Almost doesn't count." Haku shrugged.

"That mask suits you, you know. It reflects the sadist you actually are."

"Please, it doesn't please me to hurt you, though it is amusing at times." Haku smirked taking off his mask, signaling that their spar was over.

"Hah, you admitted it. You are a sadist with a feminine face!"

"My face is not feminine!"

"So, you are not going to argue about being a sadist, right?"

"Hmm, maybe you need a bit more training." the twitch that formed on Haku's forehead was suddenly hidden by the blank ANBU mask.

"Ladies! Enough!" called an amused Zabuza, "Naruto, you use more instinct and brute than finesse. Though I admit that I also use a lot of brute, I also use some finesse. I will help you to rely on more than your gut instincts. Haku, your ice-needles could use a little more work, you work on their speed and strength. I will have you spar again in 2 weeks' time; I expect a great increase in both of you. Naruto I will be teaching you an offensive water jutsu to help complement your defensive one."

"Yes Zabuza!" they called together.

" _I'll never say it out loud to the kid, but he's got a strong water wall there, if he masters it, it might even be strong enough to block a full swing of Executioner blade. He must have an extremely high affinity to water, possible even higher than my old teammate Kisame or the Leaf's Second Hokage_ " Zabuza thought as he walked away.

* * *

2 weeks later

It's been 2 weeks, and true to his word, Zabuza had Naruto and Haku spar again.

"Are you just going to keep dodging?" Haku broke off the attack, allowing Naruto to move back creating some distance. His defense was pretty solid at this point. Haku could not penetrate it without resorting to some more exotic means. But Naruto was mostly just defending, either dodging the attacks, or when there was no other option, using a substitution or the water wall.

"I'll attack when the time is right, not when you want me to." the blonde replied while catching his breath. His stamina was beyond impressive, but hardly limitless, though it will grow as he ages.

"Hmm, that is actually pretty smart. But you do know that those who are only defending are bound to be defeated."

"Yeah, yeah, offense is a perfect defense, Zabuza says that often."

"So, how about we keep going."

"Oh great." Naruto rolled to the side avoiding a barrage of needles that Haku sent at him without any warning. Naruto often wandered where the masked ninja was carrying his seemingly never-ending supply of those things. But he had no way of keeping that thought as he was once again running, dodging or using the environment to his advantage. But as before, he eventually had to resort to ninjutsu.

" **Water style: water wall**!" as before the barrier of water materialized, blocking the numerous senbon needles, but it also made it hard to see what was in front of him. Suddenly a foot came breaking through the relatively weak and hastily put up barrier, striking Naruto in the chest and throwing him back, forcing the jutsu to collapse in a harmless puddle of water under Haku's feet.

"Told you." even from behind the mask the mocking tone was evident. Haku took a step forward, but then saw Naruto look up with a smirk.

"So did I. **Water style: glimmering water chains**."

"Huh?" Haku looked down and realized he made a mistake. The water from the collapsed water wall was now used as a weapon and Haku walked right into it. Chains of water shot up, wrapping around the masked ninja and pulling him down to the ground.

"See, timing is important. Zabuza says that too." Naruto's fist stopped inches away from Haku's face hidden by the mask. The result of this spar was painfully clear.

"Tsk, fine, I'll admit, you got me this time." Haku sighed feeling the water chains disappearing, allowing him to stand up.

"Good work, both of you!" came the deep voice of Zabuza, "Haku, your ice-needles have gotten harder and stronger" he said looking at the needles stuck in some trees, buried about 3/4 through on the tough bark. "Naruto, that last move was well executed, you managed to lure Haku into the water wall and used the remains to execute the next technique flawlessly" he said in a proud the boys beamed at the praise.

"I am going to give you another jutsu, though this one can be used both offensively and as support." He said as he went through some hand signs. " **Water style: water clone jutsu** " out of the remains of Naruto's water wall, several clones of Zabuza appeared. Naruto watched in fascination as the water suddenly gained shape and color. "Water clones, they contain about 1/10 of their creator's strength and they can only travel a short distance away from the creator. They only take one hit to dispel but don't take a lot of chakra to form. Once dispelled they will leave a puddle of water, which they can be recreated or used for another technique." He hinted. Naruto's eyes widened,

"cool! So if I make a lot of water clones, I can have an army and when they dispel, I can make my water chains out of them!"

Zabuza was impressed; the kid was smarter than he had originally thought. "Yes and many more, but for now, first learn it"

Naruto sweat-dropped, having forgotten he had to learn the technique first, "Hehehe, right!" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Haku sweat-dropped, "I swear I have no idea what goes on in that thick skull of his."

Zabuza went through the hand signs slowly while Naruto copied him, " **Water style: water clone jutsu** " they shouted at the same time.

Suddenly the clearing they were in was filled with 10 more Zabuza's and 200 more Narutos. Haku and Zabuza just stared at Naruto. "Incredible! He just made at least a hundred clones and he doesn't even look winded!" Naruto let the technique drop,

"Wow you're right! I didn't even feel a drain on my chakra!"

"WHAT!?" they shouted, "Even I would have trouble making that many! When I said they don't take a lot of chakra, I did not mean they wouldn't!" continued Zabuza. "How much did you use?"

"Umm, an extremely small amount?" Naruto answered uncertainly.

Zabuza sighed, "You clearly have a problem with chakra control, the water wall and water chains don't require much chakra control but the water clone is different. The more chakra you put in, the more clones you get out." He explained, "Do you know the tree climbing exercise?" Zabuza asked

"Yes, I mastered it a month ago" Naruto answered.

"Water walking?"

"No, just tree climbing"

Zabuza sighed, "Haku show the kid the water walking exercise, I'm going to send a message to call in a favor then get a drink" he said as he walked away.

"Did I do something wrong?" Naruto asked fearfully.

Haku just sighed, "Come on, let's get you started, there is plenty water here" he said as he looked around.

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AN: alright sorry for the wait! I have been a bit busy and haven't had the chance to type, here's a slightly longer chapter! I would like everyone to thank Novrier for the fight scenes, I would not be able to write anything that detailed at this stage. Also feel free to point out any mistakes I could have made!

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Reviews:

BlackDragonShinigami: I received your review during class and I couldn't help but laugh at the simplicity of it. No complaining, no buts this just "cool story. please update, bye bye" xD well here's that update

Yagura's sensei: thanks, I intend to (and hopefully finish before August too)

Novrier: I see where you coming from, let's just pretend that this Kurama had not been that vengeful and let go of it easier or he was willing to put it aside and pulled that mood swap like he did when Naruto asked him to help with sage mode. Thanks for the fights again =)


	6. Mifune

Chapter 5

Mifune

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1 week later

Naruto had finally gotten water walking down, having finally stopped falling in the cold water, he was ecstatic. "YES!" he shouted jumping on the water. Unfortunately he had not reached the level of control to jump and move normally on water yet. Thus he was met with the cold water once again.

On the sidelines, sitting on a tree, Haku smiled looking at Naruto from the corner of his eye. "Maybe you should practice a little more before you start jumping like that Naruto" he suggested before going back to inspecting the ice-needle he had created.

"Shut up Haku!" Naruto retorted as he climbed back on the shore, grumbling about "stupid water" and how he was going to beat it to death. Sometimes Haku really wondered about the sanity of the blond.

Finally back to where he was originally, in the middle of the lake. Naruto cheered, careful not to jump and fall again. He started walking a little faster before he fell again. Again he swam back to shore and repeated his steps. However this time, Naruto was interrupted by Zabuza's 'untimely' appearance and got distracted, causing him to fall in, again. Swimming back, he glared at Zabuza, who looked back in amusement. "You're a couple years too young to intimidate me with that pitiful excuse of a glare" he said, amused.

Haku jumped down from where was twirling the ice-needle, "So he replied?" Haku asked.

Naruto was confused, who was 'he'?

"Yes, time to head to Iron Country"

Naruto's eyes widened. He had learned about Iron Country, apparently they were the only place that had remained neutral in the last three great shinobi wars and had no ninja but were left alone regardless. They were well respected and the only place that produced strong samurai instead of shinobi.

Their leader was also said to be able to slice a fully-fledged jonin in half before he had even finished his first hand-sign. But they were also rumored not to accept any ninja. Naruto voiced his confusion to Zabuza, expecting an explanation, but was met with a laugh instead.

Taking pity on Naruto, Haku explained the situation to him, "Lord Mifune, the ruler of Iron country and leader of the samurais met and fought Zabuza back before he became the leader. They crossed swords during a misunderstanding on a mission. They were assigned to protect the daimyo of two countries and when they arrived at the designated location, they thought the other was the enemy and crossed swords. Lord Mifune was taught by a samurai that had hatred towards ninja and believed all ninja were barbaric. Thus when he saw Zabuza in an area that was hosting daimyos, he thought he was a 'no good ninja' and attacked. Zabuza thought that Lord Mifune was a hired assassination by a third party and defended himself. They crossed swords but their fight ended when they discovered that neither was an assassin."

"Having learned that the other was not an assassin, they both stopped fighting immediately. As an apology to attacking Zabuza, Lord Mifune told him that anytime Zabuza needed help, Lord Mifune would do all in his power to help. And I'm guessing that Zabuza is calling in that favor now." Haku looked at Zabuza for confirmation.

Zabuza nodded, "Yes, that is true. Besides, seeing how you fight, your unpredictable nature and your natural-born instincts, I have come to the conclusion that you will be one of the best swordsmen, and what better place to start then the land whose forces is comprised mostly of swordsmen?"

Naruto's eyes were wide at the new information. Zabuza had fought the leader of samurai to a draw? The same one who is said to kill jonin without them completing even one hand-sign? Only one word would describe this. "AWESOME" he shouted, jumping and almost hitting his head on the branch Haku was sitting on.

* * *

A week later

Three figures clad in a brown cloak were seen traveling the snowy roads of Iron Country. The tallest one had a huge sword on his back and bandages around the lower half of his face, the other two were about the same height. One had blond spikey hair and the other looked female. The female looking one's hand was rapidly twitching towards a pouch on his leg.

"I swear, if another passing guy hits on me again, I'm going to stick this senbon where the sun doesn't shine" Haku muttered darkly.

"Relax Haku, we are here" Zabuza said with a slight smile behind his bandages. Naruto looked down from where his eyes were watching the birds of Iron. He looked forward and saw two samurai in front of them, guarding a gate.

"Halt! This is as far as you get, ninja" one of them spat, hand already on his sword. Haku and Naruto's hands flew towards their pouches, ready to grab a weapon to defend themselves while Zabuza simply put his hand in his cloak and withdrew a scroll. He tossed the scroll towards the other guard.

"Who are you to deny me an invitation from your leader?" he asked in a bored tone.

The two guards' eyes widened as they read the contents. "Our apologies, we were not informed of your arrival" they bowed.

"I will take you to Lord Mifune immediately!" the second one said, "follow me."

* * *

They trio followed the samurai guard through the city, drawing curious looks from the inhabitants. Naruto looked around in wonder. "So this is what Iron Country looks like" Soon they arrived at a mansion. Mifune was already there, ready to greet them.

Mifune was a slightly old man with a goatee, slightly long hair at the back of his hair and bandages around his head. He was dressed in purple robes with a sword at his side.

"Zabuza, old friend, it's been so long! I thought you forgot me!" he smiled.

"No Mifune, I remember you, and your offer. I have come to take you up on your offer. I have found a student whom I believe has the potential of being one of the best swordsmen, even better than you." Zabuza said in a flat voice.

Mifune's eyes hardened and he lost his smile. "Let's talk about this inside. Takeshi, back to your post!"

"Yes Lord Mifune!" the samurai bowed and left.

* * *

The group went inside the mansion, though huge, had a cosy feeling.

Once inside, they sat on some chairs and Mifune looked at Zabuza. "Now I believe that my old ears have been failing me. I know I did not hear you say that one of these children has the potential to be a greater swordsman than me."

"I did." Was Zabuza's simple answer.

"Impossible!" Mifune shouted "to become a great swordsman, one needs years of discipline, many hours of sweat and an unbreakable will! You should know better Zabuza" Mifune looked at him in disappointment.

"Naruto has a… unique fighting style. He has not had any training, yet he can beat some chunin. He relies more on instinct, and you know how rare natural born instincts are." He looked pointedly at Mifune, who still looked skeptical. "Besides he has an unbreakable will, as he had shown for… How long had you been Orochimaru's experiment Naruto?" Zabuza looked at Naruto.

"Since I can remember, I'm guessing since birth." Naruto answered without hesitation.

Mifune's eyes widened, even he had heard about the rouge ninja Orochimaru and his experiments that can break a grown man in less than a week. And judging by Naruto's height and structure, he must have been only 9-10 years old. "And he doesn't seem insane or bloodthirsty either!" he thought. "Very well, I shall give him the benefit of a doubt, for now. I shall put him through an obstacle course for young samurai; it will test the mind and body. If he passes, I will have a sword made to fit him, and give him beginners training." He conceded. "However, if he fails, you must admit that you are wrong and I was right." Mifune held out his hand.

"Very well" they shook hands, Zabuza looking at Naruto.

* * *

AN: right, I have been slightly less busy this week, hence the earlier update (earlier than last time anyways). If anyone has an idea for the obstacle course that would test Naruto, I'm happy to hear you out.

* * *

Reviews:

BlackDragonShinigami: Yes, it seems that sometimes reviews don't have to be long and complicated =). And I did say I would reply to all reviews didn't I?

Yagura's sensei: thanks, I'm glad you do, I will finish this story if it's the last thing I do!

Yellow-greenorchid1419: the title of the last chapter was "spars and new jutsu" so I believe it seemed right to base it off more fights and less others.


	7. the tests

Chapter 6

The Tests

* * *

Mifune led the trio of ninja to a small courtyard filled with test dummies and a table with many different swords. "For your first test, you will select any sword you want from this table. Pick one you feel most drawn to." Mifune commanded. Naruto looked at the table that was displaying over a dozen swords. Finally, he chose a simple katana.

"Now, you are to destroy as many of those dummies as possible. You may only use your sword and legs. You only have 5 minutes. Begin when you are ready." Looking at the dummies, Naruto remembered the first time he picked up a sword. It was on their way to the Land of Iron.

Thinking of that day made phantom pains run through his body. But then and again, it allowed him to at least know some form of swordsmanship beforehand- and compared to that sword, the katana in his hand barely weighed anything.

* * *

-Flashback-

The three ninja were on their way to the Land of Iron when it started to rain. "Aww man! I can't see anything in this rain!" Naruto complained.

"Shut your whining!" Zabuza shouted over the downpour "There is a town not far from here. We will stay there until the rain clears".

-Next Morning-

The next morning Zabuza led Haku and Naruto into a small clearing. He unsealed a sword and explained "This is what I used to use before I could wield my Executioner Blade. It helped me build my strength and stamina so I can use it easier". Naruto just looked at the sword in wonder.

"Pick it up" Zabuza pointed to the large no dacha sword in front of Naruto. The blade wasn't anywhere close to the size of the massive blade used by the demon of the hidden mist, but it still seemed too big for Naruto's relatively small frame. After some struggling to get it out of the earth Naruto finally managed it.

"Alright, now what?" Naruto rested the blade on his shoulder.

"Now Haku has prepared some targets for you to go against" Zabuza tilted his head and Naruto turned around noticing how the puddles left after the rain began to turn into replicas of the masked ice user. They didn't seem very active though, most likely they were just targets, but relatively realistic ones. "What are you waiting for brat? An invitation? Get to work!"

"Tch, fine!" Naruto dashed forward.

He cleaved right through the nearest target, but then nearly fell over. The sword wasn't helping his balance. As a result then next strike missed horribly and that's against a stationary target. "Are you trying to be pathetic or does it come naturally?" Haku laughed while sitting on the edge of the roof.

"Oh shut up, you gender confused bastard!"

"I am not gender confused!"

"Who are you trying to fool?"

"Ahh!" Naruto screamed when Zabuza's massive blade struck the ground right in front of him, nearly cleaving the boy in half.

"I said, get to work" Zabuza growled and that voice promised nothing but pain.

"I'm going, I'm going!" Naruto went on swinging the blade, but again it wasn't as simple as it seemed.

"Work with the blade, not against it" the veteran assassin instructed, while leaning on the flat side of his own massive weapon that remained stuck in the ground.

"Yeah, how do I do that?" Naruto nearly fell over. The blade had no problem disposing of the targets, but that was the only good thing about it so far.

"Figure it out" Was the only reply he got.

"For crying out loud!" Naruto nearly screamed when he almost fell over again, but the sword still hit the ground again. As before the blade was too heavy, after a strike it was hard to force it up or to the other side. But then again, perhaps that was what Zabuza meant.

Naruto allowed the heavy blade to continue its path and spun around, using the momentum to bring the weapon down in a devastating overhead slash. "Ah hah, so that is how you do it." Naruto cheered in triumph.

"Hm?" Haku leaned closer noticing how Naruto began to use the momentum of the heavy weapon to turn strikes into combinations of slashes. They were crude, amateurish, but they were effective and they showed the raw talent of the boy, who managed to figure things out more due to his instincts, than actual logic. Given enough training he would become a true beast on the battlefield and the rapidly disappearing targets were clear proof of that.

"Phew, done" Naruto sighed and again rested the blade on his shoulder. He was soaked in both water and his own sweat, but looked pleased with himself "So, now what?".

"Repeat" Zabuza shrugged and Haku restored the targets.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Naruto whined.

-End Of Flashback-

* * *

'Hm, a katana... According to what Zabuza said, it would suit him well. It is extremely flexible and deadly if wielded correctly and is capable of wild and unpredictable movements. Perfect for someone like him. After all, a person who relies more on instinct and improvising instead of solid forms is a deadly opponent, but a true master will have solid forms but can improvise in a moments notice' Mifune thought from the sidelines.

"Pft, those things? Easy". Naruto dashed forward striking the nearest training dummy, though apparently it wasn't as simple as that. No, hitting the thing wasn't hard, but apparently the thing could spin after the blow and to make matters worse, the mechanisms inside made various sections move in different directions. The result was obvious.

A strong wooden limb struck him in the back of the head and Naruto fell face down in the mud. "Time waits for no man" Mifune crossed his hands on his chest.

"Oh shut up" Naruto pushed himself up and simply kicked the training dummy with enough force to break it. He then began moving from one target to another. He obviously had no technique. His attacks were straightforward, primitive and brutal. They caused much damage, but Naruto received a blow after a blow himself and only his tolerance for pain and sheer stamina allowed him to keep moving.

"Enough" Mifune commanded as another training dummy fell, reduced to several deformed pieces.

"So, how did I do?" Naruto took a few moments to catch his breath, placing the sword on his shoulder.

"You have potential as a fighter, as you clearly can use a blade, at least when it comes to basics, and there is much work ahead of you. But we will see".

"Heh, meaning I did awesome" Naruto grinned cheekily.

"No, you barely passed that one. And this is only the first test. There are more to come" Mifune shot him down immediately. No need for the kid to get arrogant, that was how many samurai and ninja with potential died.

Mifune then took him to another room. On the way, some samurai lead Haku and Zabuza away. "For the next tests, they cannot be there as they can distract you" Mifune answered Naruto's unasked question.

* * *

Finally, they arrived in what seemed to be a mostly empty room. There was a container of water with a rope and dummy above it and a pedestal about 3 meters away. The floor was made of many uneven tiles. Some were high, some were low and others were just in between.

As he was taking this all in, Mifune started talking "Before we begin, tell me, why do you wish to train in the ways of the sword?".

Naruto was unprepared for the question by answered anyways "I want to get stronger, only then can I protect my precious people. Though not many, -I can count them all on one hand- I will still die for them".

Mifune stared at him for a bit before speaking "I see, that is a good reason. If you fight for others, you will be stronger than if you fight for yourself" Mifune then turned away.

"For the next test, there will be a hostage scenario, there is a "living person" and an "important document." They will both be placed in danger and you will have to think quickly on whether you will save the "hostage" -a "human life", or the "document" -that may or may not lead to war. For this test, let's pretend that this hostage is one of your "precious people". Can you place his or her "life" above an entire country and risk many more people dying for one person?". Naruto looked at him in shock. He was supposed to choose between his precious people or an entire country?

Before he could fully grasp the situation, Mifune showed him the training dummy and scroll. "This dummy here is the hostage, and this scroll is the document. They will both be placed in areas with traps, one misstep could lead to the hostage, scroll or both burnt. The traps will be, either lowering the dummy, lighting the fire, both or a rare decoy trap which will do nothing. the dummy and scroll will be placed 4 meters apart. The scroll will be on a pedestal while the hostage will be over a container of water. If you touch of either, the other will fall or be burnt. You have 5 minutes" pause "Begin".

And just like that, Mifune left the room faster than Naruto could follow. " _Fast!"_ he thought, but didn't have time to dwell on it. He looked at the traps. There seemed to be a slight difference in each stone, but he could still see that some were higher, lower, or loose. Now to figure out which one was which...

Naruto slowly stepped on the highest one. Immediately the candles on the pedestal lit up and moved slightly closer to the scroll. Naruto then stepped away and on to a loose stone. The dummy lowered. Naruto took a large jump and landed on another high stone, though this time, the fire moved more than the last. "Oh I forgot to mention, the more force you touch the traps with, the higher the effect!" Mifune's voice echoed through the walls.

" _Of course you did_ " Naruto thought sarcastically. " _Great, the scroll is about halfway to burning and the hostage is about 3/4 there…_ " he observed as he scanned the room. He was only 1/4 way across " _I'll never make it at this rate!_ " he started panicking.

Seeing no other option since he was surrounded by high stones, which he presumed would lead to the burnt scroll, he took a running start and tried to cover as much distance as possible. Seeing he was going to land on a higher stone, he panicked _"At this force, the scroll would be burned for sure!"_ he thought in panic.

Suddenly, he had an idea. He tucked his body in and tried to aim for another one that wasn't high and minimize the impact. He landed on a medium sized stone, about halfway out. He slowly opened his eyes and saw everything was still the same 'must be a decoy stone' he thought in relief.

Now was the problem, he was exactly 1 meter from either scroll or dummy and couldn't decide which. Then, another bright idea popped up " _he never said I couldn't use Ninjutsu, or that I couldn't save both"_ He thought in glee. He made the handseals for the water clone jutsu and 2 popped in existence " _Ah well, close enough, I was aiming for 1"_ he ordered one to go to the pedestal and the other one to follow him to the water container.

It was tall, taller than him. He made the clone boost him up while the other prepared to grab the scroll. But then the one going for the scroll accidentally touched it, causing the dummy to start falling in the water. Naruto's clone boosted him up before bursting into water. In the air, with no way to move, Naruto created another clone to throw him. He tackled the dummy in midair and landed safely on the other side.

He took a moment to steady his breathing before opening up his eyes… only to find Mifune looking at him with an unidentifiable look. The clone walked over and gave Naruto the scroll before popping like the others. "Soooo, how did I do?" he asked nervously.

"This was supposed to test a samurai's ability to move quickly and only stepping lightly, though your methods are unorthodox and you used Ninjutsu, which defeats the purpose and could be considered cheating-" Mifune started before he was interrupted.

"But you never said I couldn't!" Naruto pointed out.

"Yes, that is the only reason why i'm not failing you now" Mifune sighed before holding out his hand palm up. Naruto gave him the scroll.

The samurai leader clicked his fingers and 3 other samurai appeared. He gave the scroll to the first one, who then proceeded to leave. Oddly, the second one was holding a sword but Naruto didn't think too much of it. It was the third one that caught Naruto's attention. What, or rather _who_ he was holding. "HAKU!"

* * *

AN: right, sorry for the longer (much longer than planned) wait! I'm starting exams and needed some time to study. I finally got some time off and decided to work on this again. Hope you are all happy with the almost twice as long chapter. Thanks to Novrier for the small fight and training scene in the beginning.

* * *

Review (kinda disappointed at the lack of them)

BlackDragonShinigami: thanks and here's your chapter!


	8. naruto vs mifune

Chapter 7

Naruto vs Mifune

* * *

"You say you will place your precious people above all, including yourself, but yet when it comes down to it, can you really? Even if you do, do you have the power to protect them? Do you have what it takes?" Mifune stated emotionlessly as Naruto snapped out of his shock and glared at him with anger in his eyes.

"Why?! I thought you samurai were honorable! Where's the damn honor I heard about?!" He yelled towards Mifune. But said master swordsman ignored him and commanded the samurai to give a sword to Naruto.

"Prove to me that you can! Prove to me why Zabuza thought you had the potential to surpass me! Prove to me that you can protect your precious people!" Mifune drew his own sword and held it to Haku's neck "Or else he dies, the only way to save him, is to defeat me!"

Naruto's glare became harsher "I'll kill you!" he snarled in anger. Mifune merely laughed as he withdrew his sword from Haku and moved to the center of the room.

"Come, I'm waiting". Naruto grabbed the sword from the samurai and sped at Mifune, sword already in motion. With a roar of anger, he brought it down in an overhead strike.

Instead of blocking it, Mifune simply side-stepped the strike. However, Naruto learned from his prior training with Zabuza and used the swords momentum to swing it the other way, forcing Mifune to block. "Not bad, but if the is the best you can do, then you might as well give up."

"Shut up!" Naruto roared, a flicker of red dancing across his eyes.

For the next few minutes, Naruto slashed and hacked at Mifune. Though the attacks were powerful and wild, the trained samurai leader had little trouble defending. Dodging a kick here, parrying a stab there, blocking a slash here, deflecting a strike there. This cycle carried on until Naruto was out of breath.

"Stop moving!" he roared as he charged once more. He sent another devastating strike at the samurai, but instead of simply sidestepping it again, he sent his own strike, blocking and breaking Naruto's sword and throwing him back. Naruto landed on his back, still holding the handle of the now broken sword, the shards scattered around him.

"Pathetic, what happened to the 'unbreakable will' Zabuza spoke of? Were you being an experiment of Orochimaru a lie?" Mifune sneered, sheathing his sword "Guess Zabuza was wrong to put his trust in you". With that, something in Naruto snapped. Red chakra started flowing from him, first just a cloak, then a single tail sprouted.

* * *

On the sidelines, the samurai and Haku felt a wave of killing intent wash over them, the samurai's eyes widened, not expecting such power from a nine-year old while Haku, being exposed to the Demon of the Mist for so long, was not as shocked at the KI, though he wondered where the red chakra came from.

' _I'm pretty sure that no normal ninja can call upon that much chakra… neither do I remember it being red for that matter_ '

* * *

 ** _'I'll lend you some of my power, but you are still too young and can't control my chakra. For now, I will do it for you'_**.

' _Thanks fox'_ Naruto thought as he got up. The tail made of red chakra moved and receded back into the cloak. The cloak started thinning out, but instead of receding, it all moved and focused into Naruto's right hand, forming a katana.

The katana was about a meter long from hilt to the end of the blade, the handle was black and the blade… Mifune gasped. The blade was a blood red and gave off and aura of killing intent, it was as if the blade embodied the nine tailed demon itself.

Naruto looked up, his eyes red with a slit in the middle. "I will show you that Zabuza wasn't wrong to trust me!" And with that, Naruto sped at Mifune again, cracking the floor with the amount of force he used.

It was only due to his experience and his mastery of the "one-slash" that saved the samurai leader. The one-slash was based on the quick draw of the sword while moving at high speed. The user would move from a standstill to top speed in a fraction of a second. This combined with the quick drawing of the sword would kill most enemies before they could blink.

By mastering it, Mifune had trained himself in high speed movement. His eyes could process images quicker (not quite on the sharingan's level, but close) and his body could react in time. This combined with the quick draw helped him to keep track of Naruto while his quick drawing allowed him to just barely deflect the sword.

Naruto turned and attacked the samurai master again. His movements faster, his strikes stronger, and since his sword was made from the nine-tails chakra, it was able to withstand the strikes. Any chips that were made were instantly mended by the chakra. Even Mifune was hard pressed to defend against the onslaught.

Noticing that his blade was starting to crack, Mifune started dodging more often instead of blocking. This enraged Naruto even more, causing him to draw on more of demon fox's chakra. ' _ **Careful Naruto, anymore and your body would be damaged beyond repair. You are only nine-years old after all**_ '.

* * *

On the sidelines, Haku saw that Naruto was not only starting to attack with reckless abandon, but what worried him, was that Naruto started to sprout the cloak and another tail again. He saw some of Naruto's skin peel off like it was sunburned but it healed just as fast so he couldn't be sure.

' _Moving and attacking at that speed will put a strain on anyone's body, if this carries on, he might not survive_ ' Haku thought, worried.

* * *

Back at the fight, Naruto was panting heavily " **stop running you coward**!" he roared and charged again, though his movements were noticeably slower and he seemed to wince at every step. Finally Naruto got in a lucky shot and disarmed Mifune. He was preparing for another slash when Haku had enough.

"Naruto! Stop!" he shouted, dropping the transformation and revealing he was perfectly fine.

"Relax, I'm ok" he said. Naruto sighed in relief and lowered his sword "what? Oh... good... I'm just gonna crash here" he muttered as he fell asleep. The last thing he remembered was Haku shouting his name.

* * *

-Next Day-

Though Naruto woke up in an unfamiliar bed, he heard voices that sounded familiar. "… And I'm telling you Haku, I have a suspicion, but it's not my place to say".

Naruto groaned "I hope me being woken up by you two after going unconscious isn't going to be a normal thing."

"Good, you're up kid, Mifune wants to talk to you" came the gruff voice of Zabuza, already getting up and heading for the door.

* * *

After some grumbling about "damn eyebrow-less demons" and a few lost brain cells due to being hit on his head later… The trio of ninja arrived at the mansion of the samurai leader. "Is it wise to keep hitting him Zabuza? He doesn't have much more brain cells to lose."

"Yea… Hey!". Mifune was interrupted from reading his newspaper when the one official and two unofficial ninja came around the corner. Mifune's eyebrows rose when they saw Naruto being restrained by the other two.

"Come one guys! It's not like I'll attack him! Haku wasn't hurt so there is no need for me to hold a grudge!".

"Yeah… just to be safe kid" Zabuza drawled through his bandages. Cue more muttering from Naruto and a hit courtesy of Zabuza.

Seeing as he was going to go into another rant, Mifune decided to interfere "You heal fast Naruto, I wasn't expecting you to be out of hospital for another 2 days".

Naruto shrugged "I heal fast, one of the main reasons why Orochimaru was so interested in me".

Mifune nodded "One of them?".

"Yeah, though sometimes before I fall unconscious, I hear some mutters of 'immortality, blond bastard fourths, revenge and Uzumakis'".

"I see" Mifune pursed his lips then glancing at Zabuza who's eyes widened a fraction of a margin "Well, back to what I called you here for, I am a man of honor and since you passed my test, I will train you in the ways of the sword, and since you impressed me, managing to disarm me – no small feat for someone who is still a beginner, even if I wasn't going all out... I will teach you the technique that made me famous, the one-slash." One word summed up what was going through the blonde's head.

"Cool!".

Mifune chuckled "we will start your training tomorrow, be here at 8, Clear?"

Naruto saluted "Sir Yes sir!".

"Now off with you, I want to discuss some grown up stuff. Haku watch him and make sure he doesn't get into trouble".

"Yes Mifune-Sama" He replied causing Naruto to pout as they walked out the door.

"No fair, you're just as young as me!".

"But I'm still more mature than you."

"No you're not!".

"Yes I am!".

"Fem-boy!".

"Knucklehead!"

Mifune and Zabuza sighed as the two continued bickering as they left. Finally when they couldn't hear the boys anymore, Mifune turned to Zabuza.

"Now I believe that you had something to say?" he inquired.

"His parents" was the simple answer.

"What of them?"

"Don't act ignorant Mifune! I'm sure you've come to the same conclusion! He's the child of the Leaf's Red Hot-blooded Habanero and the Yellow flash!".

"How did you come to this conclusion?".

"Come on Mifune! Don't tell me you are going blind? Naruto is almost a carbon copy of the Namikaze and the only woman that he was rumored to be dating was Kushina Uzumaki! And it is no surprise that Orochimaru would hate him. They were both candidates for the position of Yondaime Hokage. If Namikaze had a child, Orochimaru would jump at the first chance to kidnap him because the Namikaze stole 'what was rightfully his'. And don't think I didn't feel that chakra yesterday. That was undoubtedly the chakra of a Biju. Naruto is a Jinchuriki, and not just any, the Jinchuriki of the nine-tailed fox" By now Zabuza was pacing around and waving his hands in the air.

Mifune calmly offered him some tea "Here, some tea would calm you down". Zabuza took the offered cup and downed it in a single gulp before sitting back down. "Now that you're calm, what do you plan to do with this information? Last I heard, the Uzumaki were wiped out, a few survivors scattered across the elemental nations" Mifune asked/said as he sipped his own tea.

Zabuza stared at his empty cup "I gotta go and talk to an old acquaintance, back in Mist. I think I'll be gone for about a month, two at most. That should give you enough time to train Naruto in the way of the swords".

"It won't, even if I spend every hour training him to the ground, even with his dedication, it will take him at least a year to even reach an acceptable level".

"Then I'll leave you a scroll to teach him a technique that will possibly reduce the time to a month. Though I never used it too much myself. I only knew of it when I found the scroll off some dead Leaf Jonin back when I was still under Mist" He said, quickly jotting down a few notes for the technique before handing to Mifune.

Frowning at the "shortcut" but reading the scroll none the less. Mifune looked at Zabuza "but it says that it divides the user's chakra, isn't that dangerous?".

"Well, he's an Uzumaki isn't he? You know? The whole ton-of-chakra thing?".

"Very well then. When will you be leaving?" he asked, tucking the scroll in his robes.

"Tomorrow morning, once I tell him" Zabuza said, standing up again.

Mifune nodded, "What about Haku?"

"If it isn't too much trouble, I will leave him with you. I'll leave a scroll of ice techniques for him to learn".

"Ice? He has the bloodline?". Zabuza simply nodded

"Then I also have a scroll for him. Something I got off a missing nin trying to attack me, but that was before I became the leader. Tried to sell it, but no one would take it since they either couldn't use it or feared the fourth Mizukage and his 'bloodline purges'".

Zabuza nodded with a frown "We're still trying to overthrow him, one of the reasons I'm going back is to see how far the rebels have gotten".

"I see, then I will not keep you any longer. You will need the energy for the journey. I bid you safe travels" Mifune stood, holding out his hand.

"Till I return, Mifune" Zabuza grasped his hand with a hidden smirk.

* * *

AN: and that's a wrap! Sorry for the late chapter, I was studying for exams. Also just a notice to all, I'm gonna post another chapter (expect it Sunday the latest) before going on holiday till September. I won't be able to type but have no fear! ZVoltrin is going to type them and I'll find a way to post them.

Also if you hadn't noticed, I found a pic for the story! Gotta say it was a stroke of luck finding it ;).

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Reviews:

(chapter 1) Banjo the Fox: thanks, though i'm not sure which way you meant by disgusting. maybe the gruesome way?

Wondering Knight: I'm trying, this is my first proper story after all

Yagura's sensei: thanks!

BlackDragonShinigami: here's the update

Noahendless: thanks, I plan to see this to the very end if it's the last thing I do!


	9. training, infinite one sword style

Chapter 8

Training part 1, infinite one sword style

* * *

Naruto woke up the next morning feeling quite giddy. He brushed his teeth and did his newly adopted routine (it's not often the experiments of Orochimaru got time for their personal hygiene after all). After eating the provided breakfast of omelets, rice and some vegetables, Naruto felt ready for his first day of training.

* * *

Arriving at Mifune's mansion before the appointed time of 8 and with 30 minutes to spare, Naruto wondered what to do. He found a spot where he could see a clock and relaxed, thinking of what Zabuza told him last evening "hmm, Zabuza is leaving for some secret place, he never told us what he's doing there or why"

Naruto groaned. He basically just said "I'm leaving for a month or two. You two play nice and train hard"

"That's right, Zabuza left Haku too. Though he did leave him a scroll for a technique he said he was given by another Yuki that was dying due to the massacre in Mist. He said that he didn't want the technique to fall in the wrong hands." Who knows what people like Yagura or Orochimaru could come up with from it. Naruto sighed before looking at the clock again. Only 5 minutes to go. He decided to start heading for the gate of the mansion.

* * *

Arriving, he saw it was open and Mifune was sitting on a stone table outside, sipping some tea and facing away from him. "Ah, Naruto! Right on time." Mifune greeted before sipping his tea once more. Naruto was surprised how had he known he was there? Naruto hadn't said a word! Mifune smiled, "I see you are surprised, some sit and have some tea" he invited.

Naruto dumbly walked over and sat down, "how did you know I was there? I didn't say a word!"

Mifune smiled, "I have trained myself to hear sounds that most can't hear, surpassing even some with bloodlines, like the Inuzuka of the Leaf. Your footsteps are like drums to me."

Naruto's eyes widened, "That's so cool! Will you teach it to me? Pleeeaaasee?" he begged.

Mifune just smiled, "you will learn it if you train hard enough"

"Alright! Then let's start now!" he screamed, jumping to his feet.

"Not so fast, there is something I would like to discuss with you first." Naruto stopped hopping around.

"What is it?"

"It's about what happened in your test, more specifically, the last few minutes."

Naruto froze, " _aww man! What did I do this time?_ " his fear only grew when he saw the stern expression on the wizened samurai's face. "hehehe, sorry?" Naruto asked as he scratched the back of his head.

Mifune just shook his head, "tell me, what do you know of the 9 biju?"

"Umm, there are 9 of them and I have the nine-tailed fox?" Naruto asked

"I see, so have you met it?"

"Yeah, I met him just over a month ago" Naruto stated as he went on telling the story of how he was training then had to fight exhausted, the rush of power and finally meeting the fox. Mifune just sat there listening

"I see, you seem to be on friendlier terms than most I have heard, apart from the Jinchuriki from Cloud. And since you know pretty much all I was going to say, I'm just gonna warn you against using borrowed power too often, not only because you should work for you power, but also because they often come with a price. In your case, using its chakra could destroy your chakra system or even kill you."

Naruto nodded, "fox said the same thing during out fight too, he said that I should watch out because I'm too young and I can't control his chakra. Also that if I don't watch out, my body would be damaged beyond repair" The samurai leader was surprised that the demon fox would care that Naruto's body would be damaged but he left it as another one of the secrets that he wouldn't solve in his lifetime.

"Well that's all I had to say, now how about we get started?"

"All right!" Naruto cheered.

Mifune smiled, Naruto was an eager kid, there aren't enough of kids like him around. "First go take 20 laps around the mansion, I'll have your training schedule by the time you come back." Mifune watched him salute and run before heading to get the schedule prepared.

* * *

Half an hour later

Mifune walked out just as Naruto finished the laps, "take a moment, and breath" he said while handing Naruto his training plan.

Training timetable

8:00 – 9:00 – tea, meditation

9:00 – 10:00 – warm ups (20 laps around the mansion, 5 minutes stretching, 50 pushups, 100 sit-ups)

10:00 – 11:00 – sparring

11:00 – 11:30 – discussion of mistakes, lunch

11:30 – 14:00 – training in kata and forms

14:00 – 14:15 – break

14:15 – 15:00 – sparring

15:00 – 16:30 – questions and learning

Mifune watched in slight amusement as Naruto read on. It was a little hard on the 9 year old, but better to train hard now and not regret it later.

* * *

Later that day

Naruto was dead on his feet and had never been more grateful to hear a bell. He used to hate the bell since it would have been a call for another fight, but now he loved it since it signaled the end of the sparring against Mifune.

"Alright, that's enough for today, now we will have a session where I will answer any question you have. Be it from today's training, questions on sword forms, history, or anything you can think of."

" _ **Brat, asking about multi-wielding. My sense of time has been disoriented after the sealings and I want to know how lost the art is**_." The demon's voice came across Naruto's mind.

" _I didn't know you could speak to me without me in my mind or using your chakra! Why didn't you do it earlier! That could have saved me many years of walls_!" Naruto grumbled at the fox.

" _ **Shut your grumbling brat. The reason I can talk to you now is because of my chakra that is still in your body. Once those have been used up, either converted or wasted, I won't be able to talk to you again. Now ask the old man that question before you look more like the idiot you are**_ " Naruto realized that while he had been in a mental debate with the fox, his body had been staring into space.

"Welcome back" said an amused Mifune.

"hehehe, sorry about that, kyubi wanted to talk to me" Naruto replied sheepishly.

"I figured about as much, what did he want?"

"he told me to ask you about multi-wielding and how lost the art is." Mifune was surprised.

"Multi-wielding hasn't been seen very often. There used to be quite a few, with different amount of swords." Mifune looked up at the sunset. "as not to bore you, I will only list the strongest of each sword number." Seeing Naruto nod, Mifune continued.

"There was Kirigaya Kazuto the duel wielder, also known as the black swordsman. Roronoa Zoro, the user of the santoryu, the three sword style. He was known as the pirate hunter. Kaku, one of the pirates Zoro defeated, his clan name has been washed away by time, but their bloodline allowed them to transform into animals. He wielded 4 swords. Date Masamune, the one-eyed dragon, wielder of six swords. He was a samurai, an incredibly strong one at that and he was much stronger than me. And the most recent one. Killer B, brother of the Raikage, wielder of 7 swords and the container of the 8-tails." Naruto was shocked. There was someone like him! And to top it all off, he's alive and could help him with both his swordsmanship AND the 9-tails if needed. Then he noticed something.

"Wait, you skipped out 5 swords." He pointed out.

Mifune sighed, "Yes for some reason, no one used 5 swords, and if they did, it was never written down or it got lost in the sands of time."

Naruto nodded, "so the highest amount of swords was 7?" he asked, feeling a little pride of his fellow container's achievement.

"No, there was one who claimed to use 8, Hatchan. He looked like an octopus and was another pirate swordsman Zoro defeated. Though due to his sword wielding having no form, he was not regarded as a true swordsman. Besides that Zoro also managed to partially use 9 swords. This was done by creating a part illusion and it triples his potential as a swordsman." Naruto was in awe. Roronoa Zoro must have been an awesome swordsman. Defeating a wielder of 4 swords and a pseudo wielder of 8. He even wielded 9 to an extent!

"Wow Zoro must have been a genius!" he cried.

"Not exactly. But he is a prime example of what hard work can achieve. Back when he was learning, he had a rival, Kunia and he always lost to her. So with this in mind, Zoro tried to increase the amount of swords he used in order to defeat her. But on their 2000th fight, Zoro challenged her to a duel, but with real swords. Again, the fight ended in his loss. The next morning, she suffered an accident, and died. From that point on, Zoro trained even harder to become the greatest swordsman, for both his dream and hers." Mifune looked at Naruto who was totally focused, "that's enough for now, it's getting late and you still got to train tomorrow.

"Right!"

* * *

That night

" **Naruto, the old samurai didn't tell you one thing. The best swordsman, the best of the best, one of the creators of the infinite one-sword style. His name may have been lost to humans, but I still remember him. His name, was Luo Ushio. He was without equal, and one of the only that gained my respect, and the only I could call my equal.** "

Naruto was awed. An equal to the greatest tailed beasts? Even the weakest were a threat to a kage-level shinobi, but the strongest was something that was feared by all. And this guy was his equal?

" **The reason I told you to ask Mifune, was not just because I wanted to see how the multi-wielding art is, but also to see if they still remembered him. But from what I heard, they don't even know of his art anymore, even if they practice a watered-down version of it themselves!** "he growled. Naruto was slightly scared of him and the killing intent he let off. It was much more than anything he had ever encountered.

Maybe it was some act of self-preservation, maybe it was something higher-up's idea, whatever it was, it caused him to make a foolish decision. "Then show me his ways, teach me his style, allow me to remind them why the infinite one sword style was so feared." He looked at the giant chakra construct.

" **HA! As if a little brat like you would ever manage to be that good**!" he laughed. " **The reason it was feared, is because of the devastation its techniques could cause, and the mastery required. Lou created it and split it into 9 stages. The body, movement, sword, double sword, summoning, skewering, massacre, hell's ascension and the final stage, the infinite master.** "

"then I will master it! And become the next infinite master!" Naruto shouted with determination.

Kyubi shook his head " **that is impossible, to become on infinite master, you must be trained by one of them, and I doubt any are alive** "

Naruto lost some of his enthusiasm, "what about you? Can't you teach me?"

The fox shook his head again, " **no, I'm not a master, and though Luo tried to train me, I only got up to stage 7, and that was only due to my demonic nature, meaning I didn't exactly master the style the normal way and my way wouldn't work for you. I can only teach you up to stage 5** "

"Then teach me!" Naruto asked.

" **What about when you reach stage 5? What then?** "

"I'll find a way to go to the next stage, somehow!" Naruto was really grasping at the straws now.

" **Hmm, fine, I'll start your training when you wake up** "

"yes!" Naruto cheered.

" **now, let me be** " Before Naruto could reply, the sewer disappeared and he was thrust in another world, one of his own dreams.

* * *

The next morning

Naruto woke up as usual, but when he tried to get up, he was met with more resistance than he expected. Before he could freak out, he heard the sound of the fox. " _ **I had added resistance seals to your body. This is stage one. You will have the resistance seals on at all times. This helps you improve your speed faster. When you get used to it, I will up the resistance again.**_ "

"what about my training with Mifune?" he asked.

"you will still train as you would, you will need some of the basics for the infinite one-sword style" Naruto sighed as he went about his morning routine with some difficulty, but nothing he couldn't manage… eventually.

* * *

8 am

Naruto was at Mifune's mansion, ready for training. After some tea (where Naruto told Mifune about the resistance seals when the samurai asked why Naruto was moving so slow) and meditation, Mifune decided to give him the scroll on shadow clones.

"Naruto, seeing as you are still getting used to the resistance seals, let's take it a bit easy today. Zabuza gave me this ninjutsu scroll for you to learn. Now while we samurai don't use ninjutsu often, I believe this will help you with your training." Naruto took the offered scroll and read it out loud.

"Shadow clone jutsu" he muttered.

"I have read the scroll myself and it appears that this technique divides the user's chakra to create clones, and when the clones dispel, the user gains their memories." Mifune said.

Naruto nodded, "I'll get to it right away!" he said.

It took him the whole day, having to stop a few times to replenish his chakra, but by the end of the day, he had gotten to the point where he was confident he wouldn't fail at performing it. By the end of it all, he only had time to smile for a brief moment before falling unconscious due to chakra exhaustion.

* * *

AN: well here's the chap I promised (and I made it extra-long too! Close to 2 500 words).

Virtual cookies to anyone who can guess the anime that i based the swordsmen i used on!

also, feel free to point out any mistakes, i'm doing this half asleep and it hasn't been checked by ZVotrin yet.

Not much else to say since I said most of it last chap, but just in case you missed it. I'm leaving for holiday on Monday and probably won't have a computer or laptop to write so ZVoltrin will do it for me. He will write the chaps and I'll find a way to post it.

* * *

Reviews:

(Chapter 1) pitbull4567: thanks

Noahendless: haha thanks. At least you didn't have to wait too long for that cliffhanger.

BlackDragonShinigami: here you go

BBWulf: thanks


	10. the golden katana (part 1)

Chapter 9

The golden katana (part 1)

* * *

It's been almost two months. Mifune had gotten a message from Zabuza stating that he would be back soon. With this in mind, he decided to conclude Naruto's training. Naruto had been working hard in the 2 months. After discovering Naruto's amazing ability to mass produce shadow clones, Mifune put it to good use. With at least 10 samurai supervising to ensure he did the training correctly and if had any questions. Mifune also designed a separate training schedule for the clones.

He had 100 working on kata, 100 working on education (he discovered that Naruto only received the education he needed and things like science and human anatomy were almost new terms to him), 100 working on the double and twin slash. Mifune also discovered that with the clones, Naruto learned the techniques at an amazing rate and mastered the one-slash in a month.

The double and twin slash were advanced forms that Naruto made up. The double slash was Naruto using two swords sheathed across his back and quickly drawing them. The twin slash was Naruto creating a shadow clone and standing on opposite sides of the opponent. Each would then use the one-slash at the same time. Cutting them into 3 pieces. All with at least 10 samurai to help of course.

The new timetable looked something like this:

8:00 – 9:00 – tea, meditation

9:00 – 10:00 – warm ups (50 laps around the mansion, 5 minutes stretching, 100 pushups, 200 sit-ups)

10:00 – 11:00 – sparring

11:00 – 11:30 – discussion of mistakes, lunch

11:30 – 14:00 – sparring

14:00 – 14:15 – break while dispelling clones in groups

14:15 – 16:30 – double and twin slash

* * *

Naruto himself had grown quite a bit. He had lost most of whatever baby fat he had, grown a few inches and was smarter than most 15 year olds. His resistance on the seal had gone up twice. He was working on stage 2 of the training. Around when the second month started, the fox pulled him into his mindscape to tell him about it.

Stage 2 of the infinite one sword style was about momentum. Naruto was taught how to keep momentum up and to move one move into another. The fox told him that it was essential to keep moving and keeping the enemy on guard.

Unknown to Mifune, Naruto always created about 100 clones before arriving at the mansion. The clones would find an unoccupied training field and work on the style. They would work in groups of 10 until they dispelled. Then the next 10 would take their place.

* * *

As he had for the past month or so, Naruto created his clones and headed for Mifune's mansion. However, instead of seeing the grounds prepared for training, he saw Mifune sipping tea and reading some papers. "Good morning Naruto, I have received a message from Zabuza. He is due to arrive in a few days. Before you go, I want to test how much you've improved. Rest for today, tomorrow we will have an all-out battle. Anything goes until one is unconscious or surrenders."

Naruto was shocked. Two months had passed so quickly. And not only that, but an all-out battle against Mifune. Naruto didn't have any illusions that the battle would be a cakewalk- even if he was allowed to use ninjutsu. "Good morning Mifune-sensei, do you think that I'm really ready to defeat you in an all-out battle?"

Mifune smiled, the kid doesn't give himself enough credit. With his crazy routine, he had already surpassed most of the older samurai already. And if he adds on his clones and other ninjutsu, then there are barely a handful samurai that can defeat him. "Well I guess we'll see tomorrow wont we?"

"I guess we will" Naruto grinned, "I'm gonna go tell Haku that Zabuza is coming back, see you tomorrow sensei!"

"Meet me at the samurai stadium tomorrow at 9!" Mifune called after him

The old samurai leader watched him go. Once he was out of sight, Mifune stood up and went to his bookshelf. He pulled a book and revealed it was a lever for a hidden doorway. Walking in the dark with practiced ease, he eventually came across a dimly lit room that had a pedestal and on the pedestal was a golden katana. "It appears the time has come"

* * *

Naruto walked away from the mansion in deep thought. "It's been an entire two months already. Time really flies when you're training"

Without really thinking about it, Naruto came across the training field that Haku was using. There were multiple puddles of water, ice senbon needles in trees and craters around the clearing. Naruto blinked. It seems that he wasn't the only one who was training hard.

He was so busy looking around at the destruction he almost missed the ice ball that was heading towards him. It was only thanks to his reflexes that he got from training with Mifune that he didn't lose his head and ducked in time. It was a good thing too because the next moment the ball landed a couple meters behind him and exploded into ice spikes.

Naruto whistled, suddenly very glad that wasn't him. "You've been training hard Haku."

Haku landed next to him, "why are you here instead of training with Lord Mifune?"

Naruto pouted, "aww you so cold Haku! Couldn't I come I see my favorite fem-boy?"

Haku grew a tick mark, "firstly, I am a boy! Secondly…" he created a ball of ice identical to the one that missed Naruto moments earlier, "you got 10 seconds to tell me why you are here before I get a moving target to practice my new jutsu."

Naruto started sweating. " _damn Haku is scary_!"

"10" Naruto's eyes widened

"9" Naruto started backing away

"8"

"Now, now Haku! Let's not be hasty!

"5" Haku got his arm in a position to throw

"Mifune-sensei told me Zabuza is coming back soon and I just thought I would tell you!" Naruto blurted out so quickly that it took Haku a second to decipher it. Once done, he lowered his hand and let the ice ball fall apart. "Alright, thanks for telling me. Is that all?"

"Well pretty much yeah. Oh and I'm fighting sensei in an all-out battle tomorrow."

Haku was surprised at that. "Wow, good luck then"

"Thanks I'll let you get back to your training" With that said Naruto left the training grounds.

* * *

The next day

Naruto got up early. He had barely been able to sleep the previous night. He got dressed, did his morning routine and checked all his equipment. Then double checked it. By his fifth time checking it, the demon fox grew annoyed. " _ **You have everything, you checked that, nothing will disappear between your first and fifth check**_ "

" _Right, I'm just nervous in facing against sensei. I mean sure we sparred a lot in the last two months, but we never actually went full out_." Naruto said as he adjusted his pouch he had gotten from Zabuza when he had left.

" **Just go there and kick his ass…** " Naruto was feeling better with the pep talk the fox was giving him. Maybe the fox was starting to like him! " **… and let me sleep. You are interrupting my nap time with all your noise** " Well that goes that hope.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked in the mirror and nodded. Being nervous won't help. He will just have to stop being nervous and just do his best. With this in mind, Naruto headed out.

* * *

The streets seemed more deserted than usual. There were a few people around, but not as many as Naruto expected. "Where'd they all go? There should be plenty of people at 8:30 in the morning." Naruto wondered out loud. "Ah well, no time to think about it. Time to head to the stadium."

* * *

Arriving at the stadium, Naruto finally saw where all the people had gone. He swallowed hard. That was a LOT of people! The whole stadium was filled with people! Apparently word had gotten out that the samurai leader was going to be battling his new student today. "Well Naruto? You ready?" Naruto turned around. "Haku! You here too?"

"Yup. You better win. i betted quite a bit on you." Naruto groaned. Now he was just something to earn money off? "Well better go! You wouldn't want to keep the crowd waiting would you? Good luck!" Naruto sighed Haku was right. Naruto hung his head as he walked towards his doom.

* * *

AN: right, sorry for the wait. I know I said that I would post during my holiday but it seems that ZV was also on holiday then. Well I'm back now so you shouldn't have to wait another month for the next chap ;)

Besides that, I have created a page on facebook. You can find the link on my profile. If it doesn't work then just search it up. It should pop up when you type in Jackalope33. It's the one with the blue sharingan. I'm not too sure how this all works so if there is someone who can explain that would be helpful.

Also the correct answers from my challenge in chapter 9 were:

Bleach

Sword art online

One piece (congrats for getting this one thegodofanime)

Sengoku Basara

And obviously

Naruto

* * *

Reviews:

Thegodofanime: congrats on getting one right

BlackDragonShinigami: well hope you waited this long

Please Read my stuff: thanks


	11. the golden katana (part 2)

Chapter 10

The golden katana (part 2)

* * *

Naruto walked into the arena to find Mifune already waiting for him. "Ah good morning Naruto. Nervous?" Mifune greeted.

"Good morning Mifune-sensei. Yeah, can't believe it's been 2 months already."

"Yes, time sure flies doesn't it? Well, we've kept the crowd waiting long enough don't you think?" Mifune smiled before calling for a microphone.

" **Ladies and gentleman. Good morning**!" the samurai leader waited for the roar of the crowd to die down. " **Today is a special occasion. As you may have heard. In the last two months I had taken on a student. Today, I will personally battle him to see if he has trained enough to be recognized as a samurai in all but allegiance**!"

the crowd was shocked. To become a samurai in two months was unheard of. The chances of him becoming one in that short of time are very low, even if he was trained by one of, if not the best swordsman alive. " **Now, I'm sure you have your doubts, but I'm sure that my young student will shock you all. Now let the battle begin**!" the crowd cheered once more.

"Ready Naruto?" Mifune asked as he handed the microphone back to the ref. Seeing Naruto nod, Mifune motioned for Naruto to be given a sword as he got ready himself. Both swordsmen got in a ready position. Both prepared to both defend and attack.

The ref let his hand fall. "Begin"

The two circled each other for a moment before Naruto charged, aiming for a stab to the stomach. Mifune twisted out the way before holding his sword to Naruto's neck. "I thought I taught you better than that Naruto."

Naruto smirked, "you did" Mifune barely had any time to figure out what he meant before the Naruto in front of him dispelled in a poof of smoke.

"Shadow clone. Impressive Naruto, I didn't even see you make it" Mifune praised.

"Thank you sensei, I've been practicing" Naruto said as he revealed himself transformed as a rock and kicked at Mifune who used his sword to block. Naruto changed tactics and use the sword as a spring to jump away.

Naruto sheathed his sword before crossing his fingers. " **Shadow clone jutsu** "

Mifune narrowed his eyes when he saw half the arena filled with clones. "Good move, surround me with clones and hiding yourself but not making enough to hinder your movements" The first clone attacked with a punch to the chest that Mifune ducked and used his body like a spinning top to trip the clone before kicking it at another, dispelling both.

"You know you won't defeat me that easily right?" Mifune looked around.

"Yes sensei, guess I'll have to kick it up a notch, **twin slash**!" A pair of clones got in front and behind Mifune, both already in position for the twin slash. Mifune tensed. Both clones charged at the same time. Thanks to his superior experience, Mifune managed to find a small gap and deflecting the clones into each other.

"Well I guess using it against a trained swordsman is bound to be different to using dummies. Good thing I prepared." Mifune narrowed his eyes even further. What did Naruto have planned that he didn't know about? " **Transform**!" Naruto shouted.

16 clones got in position around Mifune. Two to his sides, one in front and behind him and another 4 diagonal to him. The other 8 stood about 2 meters behind them. They then all transformed into poles that were stuck to the ground. Mifune was confused. "Poles?"

"Sensei, this is something I prepared to show you yesterday before you cancelled the training. Something I have been working on for a little over 2 weeks." Naruto announced. " **W** **ater style: Glimmering water chains!** " chains formed around the poles on the outside. Effectively trapping himself inside. " **One-slash barrage** "

Mifune sweated a little. 8 clones, each at one of the clone poles. And if the name as any indication, then each of them would use the one-slash. Though Naruto's speed and execution of the one-slash was nowhere near his, 8 of them would be no easy feat to avoid. "Prepare yourself, sensei"

Then all hell broke loose. Each of the eight clones attacked in a seemingly random pattern of one-slash. Mifune had no time to think about the attacks as he was forced to block blow after blow. " _Is it just me or are these clones speeding up?_ " Mifune thought.

" _The one-slash barrage. First trap the opponent by creating two layers of poles. One in front, and one a bit behind them. Then close the gaps in the outer layer with chains. This has two functions. One, to restrict their movement further. And two…_ " Naruto stopped his train of thought for a moment to observe the scene. " _For the clones to use their momentum to increase their speed. The clones attack in a seemingly random pattern, but in fact, they look for the place that would be the hardest to defend. They start in the normal one-slash, the frontal assault, then, on the return, they use the downwards slash, the back assault. Though I am not proficient at it yet, that is the main point of it_ "

Finally, the clones reached a speed which they couldn't see and made a mistake. One clone went too fast and crashed into another clone. This caused the other clones to lose concentration and crash into each other. Naruto hung his head. "Well that was a little embarrassing."

Mifune once again stood in the middle of the poles. "Very impressive Naruto. Even I was hard pressed to defend against that. I don't think I would have lasted much longer there.

Naruto sighed, "Ah well, good thing I still got more clones."

Mifune widened his eyes. He had totally forgotten the other clones. He settled in a stance similar but yet still different to his one-slash. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that Naruto. **Flash**!" With that, he coated his sword in chakra and swung it in an arc all around him, dispelling the poles and most of the clones. "I've seen enough of how well your clones can attack, but how about one on one?"

Naruto nodded dispelling the rest of his clones. "Alright, kenjutsu then." The two got together in the center of the arena and once again circled each other.

Naruto went for the same opening as his clone did before. He went for a strike for the chest. As before, Mifune twisted out the way and attempted to put his sword by Naruto's neck, only for it to be deflected. Naruto feinted left and slashed right. But that wouldn't work on an experienced swordsman such as Mifune who saw right through it and blocked it.

Naruto saw this as an opportunity to disarm him. He used his blade to hit the base of Mifune's and twisted. Then time seemed to slow down as the samurai leader's sword fell out of his hand and stabbed into the dirt.

Though before he had a chance to hold the blade to Mifune's neck- a sign of a win, Mifune bent back and grabbed his sword then swinging it up, he knocked Naruto's sword away. Before holding his own sword to Naruto's neck. "Good move Naruto, but not good enough to beat me"

Naruto sighed once again, "yeah, and here I was thinking I had you with that last move."

" **Winner, Lord Mifune!** " the ref announced before handing the microphone to Mifune while the crowd cheered.

" **My people! You have all witnessed the skill of my student! Is there any who denies his right to be recognized as a samurai in all but allegiance?** " The crowd roared in approval. "Well there's their answer Naruto. Congratulations."

Naruto just stared in shock before giving a genuine megawatt smile. "Thank you Mifune-sensei" he bowed.

"My pleasure, Naruto" Mifune said as he bowed back.

" **That wraps up today's battle! Thank you my people! Have a good day**!" As the people slowly made their way to the exits, Mifune turned to Naruto.

"Meet me in my office as soon as possible"

Xxxx

When Naruto reached Mifune's office, he found Zabuza and Haku waiting for him. They both turned to him when he entered. "Good work Naruto. I see you had mastered the shadow clone jutsu."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I trained a lot"

"Anyways, Zabuza said that he has contacted his friend in Mist and that you will be leaving by tomorrow…"

"But because Mist is a little more chaotic as of late, we will wait a few years before it either dies down, or heats up to the point of where we have to offer our services. Either way, in the next 3 years, I will be training you and we will be going around as mercenaries."

Naruto nodded "Is that all?"

"No, I have one more thing to talk to you about Naruto. Zabuza and Haku, you two can go rest in your hotel. I'll be quick with him." The two nodded and headed out, leaving Naruto and Mifune alone. Mifune stood up and went behind the bookshelf to get something that was hidden from Naruto's sight.

"This is a katana passed down from samurai leader to samurai leader. Legend has it that it was given to the samurais as a gift by the sage of the six paths himself. Many say that when giving it to us, he foretold that one day, a child of prophecy would come, and this katana would help him save or destroy the world. I believe that child is you Naruto."

* * *

AN: yeah I know, a little evil to leave you on a slight cliffhanger. Nothing really to say besides that ZV seems to be busy so I don't have these chaps beta'd. I plan to recheck them sometime soon if only to add in some line breaks and stuff. Feel free to point out any errors.

Again I have created a facebook page for this and I will try post stuff like story updates on it. Any suggestions on what I could do would be appreciated.

Also, it appears that the fanfiction reviews are down again, so if I don't answer any questions you asked in a review just Pm me or message me on my facebook page

* * *

Reviews:

BlackDragonShinigami: thanks, here you go

Please Read my Stuff: yeah, I'm still a starting author, so expect the chaps to be around this length. For now at least. Also, no need to thank me for updating. I should thank you for reading and reviewing.

AmbertheCat: well I hope this didn't disappoint

Shapeshifter340: here you go

Dragonman109: I would have updated yesterday, but I was out so I only had time to work on it today

Noahendless: very good question. In fact I am surprised no one thought of it yet. The reason is because that I plan to give him a sharingan. Now I'm not telling you too much since that would be spoilers but that's basically it. Well that and because I couldn't think of much else ^.^ll


	12. goodbyes, bunny and new girl

Chapter 11

Goodbyes, bunny and new girl

* * *

Naruto looked at the sheath of the sword. It was a brilliant golden color that seemed to glow. It had beautifully crafted decorative dragons that seemed to move on its own accord as they wrapped around the sheath. Naruto looked up at the handle. It was just as golden and vibrant as the sheath and though it had dragons as well, these had finer details and seemed to be made to be used as a grip.

Finally he looked at Mifune, "but sensei, how do you know it's me who is the child of prophecy? And even if it was, how do you know I won't destroy the world?"

"I don't, but it is a sensei's duty to believe in his students."

After some hesitation, Naruto grabbed to sword. He unsheathed it and took a moment to marvel at its beauty. Not a single piece of rust was seen on the reflective surface of the sword.

He set the sheath down and made a small cut on his palm. Clenching it and looking into Mifune's eyes he spoke with conviction, "I will make you proud sensei. This I swear!"

Mifune looked in the determined eyes of Naruto, "you already have" he thought.

* * *

The next day

The group was ready to head out. Everybody was saying their last goodbyes.

"Thank you for helping me, Hiro-san, and please thank everybody else for me too." Naruto said as he shook the hand of one of the samurai who trained him.

Hiro was the name of the highest ranking samurai in the group that educated him in books. Thanks to him, Naruto knew his human anatomy well enough on where a hit would do what kind of damage and how severe the damage would be.

"Naruto, it's been a pleasure teaching such a young and motivated student. May we meet another day." He shook Naruto's hand.

Finally after many goodbyes, it was Mifune's turn. "I am happy to be your teacher Naruto, and just so you know, if you need anything, the samurai would be glad to help." Mifune looked over his shoulder "am I right?"

The crowd roared in approval and Mifune extended his hand, "well I'm expecting to hear great things about you. Goodbye Naruto"

Naruto looked at Mifune's hand for a second before pushing it away and hugged him. "I'll miss you sensei" he said as his eyes watered.

Mifune's eyes softened. "I'll miss you too, but now it's time for you to go."

Naruto wiped his tears away, "goodbye sensei" and with a tearful last look, Naruto left the land of Iron, heading to destinations unknown to him.

* * *

3 days later

Zabuza had finally had enough. "Naruto if you don't stop mopping around, I am going to stuff my socks in your mouth and put you in a genjutsu that doesn't allow you to smell or taste anything but those socks for the next week!" the threatened, raising his killing intent for added effect.

Naruto snapped his head up in fear. He did NOT want to taste nothing but dirty socks for a week! In his fearful state, Naruto never realized that Zabuza didn't wear socks.

Satisfied that Naruto wasn't going to mop around anytime soon, Zabuza decided to tell them his plan. "Now as you both know, Mist is in too much chaos right now. So for the next 3 years, I am going to train you both. In between the training sessions, we will be hired as mercenaries and hunting other missing ninja. Any questions?"

Seeing them both shake their heads he turned around and started to walk again. "In about 5 miles we will be coming across a town. You two find a place to stay while I see if there are any jobs available. Got it?" The two nodded. "Good."

* * *

Arriving at the town, Zabuza gave them a quick breakdown on where to go, where not to go, and where to avoid at all costs. "Trust me, some of these places contain ninja that wouldn't hesitate to kill you for merely stepping wrong in their presence or even just to pass off time." He had said.

And so, as planned the two found a hotel that wasn't too bad and overly costly. Rogue ninja had to watch how much they spend after all. Else they might run out of money for food. Granted, they could always steal, but it's easier not to. Less hassle that way.

"I'm telling you! The ninja won't be as scary as Zabuza said!" Naruto tried arguing for the millionth time.

"And I'm telling you that it's better to be safe than sorry! Besides, what if Zabuza found out? What then?" Haku argued back

"What if Zabuza finds out what?" a voice came behind him causing him to nearly jump out his skin. "Zabuza! We were just err.." Haku trailed off noticing Naruto laughing and rolling on the floor.

"hahaha you should have seen your face!" Naruto laughed.

Haku was confused. Was he missing something? He looked back at Zabuza just in time to see him be enveloped in a cloud of smoke, revealing another Naruto laughing. Haku was furious. Naruto had tricked him!

"I'm going to kill you Naruto!" he screamed as he made a handful of ice senbon. But before he was able to throw it, he was caught by a hand.

"Now, if you wanted to destroy stuff, you can go outside in the forest where I won't have to pay for collateral damage." Zabuza said.

Haku rolled his eyes. "Naruto cut the transformation already. The same trick won't work on me twice." He said before stopping and looking at Naruto who wasn't laughing like he expected. "It's the real Zabuza this time, isn't it?" Naruto nodded. Haku sighed, "Sorry Zabuza, Naruto's being a pain and was playing pranks on me. I thought you were another one of them."

Zabuza let go of Haku's hand. "Yes I saw that one. Good job on making a transformed shadow clone undetected Naruto. If you were an enemy assassin you would have been able to kill Haku." Zabuza praised.

"This brings me onto my next order of business; since we arrived too late, there are no missions for this week. So I want to train both of you twice as hard for when we won't have time to train. As for what I'm going to teach you, I want both of you to learn my silent killer technique." That was a shock to them both. Being taught silent killing from one of the best? Awesome! "Follow me to the forest and I will show you how it's done before you attempt it yourself."

* * *

"Now, there are many ways to do this technique, for example. If you were in a forest like now, you can use the natural camouflage given by the trees. But personally my favorite is using the mist. As he said this, he created the handsigns for the hidden mist jutsu. And by the time he finished, the mist had already seeped in.

"The mist is perfect camouflage in areas that have a high chance of being foggy. The victims would think it was just a normal fog. It also gives off an eerie atmosphere that would install fear in the opponent, making their reaction time slower." Zabuza then appeared behind them. "And that is when you will strike."

"AAAHHHH!" they both screamed.

"Now your turn" he smirked.

* * *

It's been one and a half years. Naruto and Haku have both grown in leaps and bounds. Haku through his natural born genius and Naruto through his shadow clones. They had both expanded their jutsu repertoire. Both knew the substitution and were quite proficient in the silent killing. Not nearly Zabuza's level, but still enough to defeat most chunin level ninja.

In fact, in an attempt to hone their skills, they made it a game to attempt to "assassinate" each other. In other words, when one let his guard down for even a second, the other would try to put him in a position where he would easily be killed without getting caught.

The group had just come back from a mission. To me more exact, Naruto and Haku's first A rank mission by themselves. Zabuza only stood by. Though there were some cases that he almost had to intervene, everything turned out right in the end.

On their way back to the town the kids have affectionately dubbed as "their hideout", Naruto heard a rustling in the bushes. Thinking it was either an enemy, or one of Haku's attempts but not caring either way, Naruto threw a kunai at it.

Seeing the bush no longer moving, Naruto looked to see if it was part of Haku's plan, though when he looked, Haku seemed just as on edge as Naruto was. Naruto slowly walked towards the bush, holding a kunai in case it was an enemy. Then in a quick movement, he moved the bush away and held his kunai to a … rabbit?

He put his kunai away and brought the rabbit out. "False alarm, just a rabbit" he said sheepishly.

Zabuza snorted, "All this training and what is it used for? To scare a bunny to death."

Naruto looked back at his hands only to find that the bunny was gone. Looking around he found that the bunny was… being held and petted by Haku.

"It's ok little bunny, don't be afraid! Aww, you so cute!" Haku said while petting him. Naruto and Zabuza gave him deadpan looks.

"You sure you're not secretly a girl Haku?" Naruto asked once again.

Without letting go of the rabbit, Haku formed seven ice spikes all pointing to Naruto. "What did you say Naruto? I couldn't quite hear it." he asked with a warning tone in his voice.

"N-n-othing Haku!" Naruto waved his hands around.

"Good!" Haku was instantly bright and shiny again.

"Let's go. I want to be back before nightfall." Came the gruff voice of Zabuza.

When he turned around he saw Haku looking at him with puppy eyes. "Can we keep him? Pleeeassee?"

Zabuza looked at him. "No"

"Please can Zabuza let Haku keep this cute bunny Haku wants?" Haku pleaded again and increasing his puppy dog eyes, leaking some fake tears for added effect.

Naruto had to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing at that. A few months ago, Haku was watching something or another on TV when he came across a show that had a characters talking in third person. When Zabuza came back that night, Haku tried it on him and it freaked him out to no end. He never did say why though.

Since that day, Haku decided that this would be perfect blackmail material.

Zabuza looked at Haku for another full 5 seconds before caving in. "Fine, but I'm not taking care of it and will I not tolerate it slowing down your training or hinder your missions. Am I clear?"

"Yes Zabuza!" Haku cheered.

* * *

A few miles later, Haku was still talking to his bunny. Suddenly Naruto heard a scream in the woods, without thinking, he turned and was about to rush off into the woods, but Zabuza grabbed his collar "No, Naruto, screams like that happen all the time, we are ninja remember?"

Naruto looked at Zabuza, "No this is different, I have a feeling…" Naruto then heard the nine tails talking to him.

 **"Good feeling you got there Naruto. If I'm not mistaken then that's the scream of the 7-tails host. It's in the same direction"**

Seeing Naruto come back to the waking world, Zabuza asked him the question. "What did the fox say?"

Naruto looked up at Zabuza. "He said that the scream most likely came from the Jinchuriki of the 7 tails. As a fellow Jinchuriki, I have to help them!"

Zabuza sighed, "Fine, but if it's more trouble than its worth, we're leaving" Naruto reluctantly agreed and they dashed off in the direction of the scream.

When they arrived, the three ninjas saw 2 male shinobi and a female kunoichi. The two male ones looked about 14 with brown eyes and brown hair in a spiky form, possibly twins. The girl had green hair and orange eyes and looked about 10. She had multiple bruises and cuts that still looked fresh. She also looked as if she almost had her clothes ripped off. Her shirt was ripped and her skirt was also showing multiple tears.

"Demon, you are going to die today, but first, we going to have some fun with you" one of them sneered while the other had a sick grin on his face. Haku looked on in shock while Naruto was seeing red. His eyes turned red with a slit in the middle. He grabbed his sword and dashed towards the first boy

"One slash!" he shouted, drawing his sword, cutting the boy in half and sheathing it in one fluid movement. Shocking the other boy. While Naruto's back was turned, the other boy snapped out of his shock and grabbed his kunai before charging at him, aiming to stick it in his skull.

Only to be decapitated by Zabuza.

Naruto turned around to see Zabuza's sword where the boy's head was and Haku lending the girl one of his spare kimono.

The girl looked at them in fear, but when she saw Naruto's red eyes; she zoned out for a second before whispering with wide eyes, "You're just like me"

* * *

AN: I know, not much content here, but bear with me. I have asked Jman22056 to help beta this story, so you can likely expect better grammar and line breaks, though feel free to point out any errors i missed or any suggestions!

Besides that, glad to see some of you have checked out my facebook page.

Also, I have hidden a part of a song somewhere in the story, virtual cookies to those who find it.

And cookies to those who guessed who this girl is.

Again, anything I missed will be posted on my facebook page.

Reviews:

BlackDragonShinigami: I am honestly amused that you are still excited by a shout-out after like 7 consecutive chapters

Noahendless: no problem. Yeah I like to keep people somewhat guessing and being different from the norm. but don't worry, if all goes according to plan he should get it before chapter 20.

AmbertheCat: thanks. Personally I thought that I made Naruto a little OP in that fight. You didn't have to ask me if it was alright to follow me! It was intended for my fans to follow me =). Thanks for being the first by the way.


	13. Fu

Chapter 12

Fu

* * *

Naruto was taken back. "What?"

"You're just like me." The mint-haired girl repeated.

"How? I mean…" Naruto stuttered in surprise and confusion.

The girl lifted her hand up to her chest. "I have a tailed beast too. The seven tails. He told me about your nine tails."

To the side Zabuza frowned, "if the tailed beasts can sense each other then it would be quite hard to keep Naruto secret if another Jinchuriki is near"

Seeing the sun start to set, the girl started to panic. "Please take me with you! Don't leave me alone!"

Naruto frowned, "looks like she has a fear of the dark" he thought. "I'll try asking Zabuza, he calls all the shots here." He told her before turning to Zabuza.

"Can we keep her?" Naruto pleaded

"What's this? Adoption day?" Zabuza retorted with a tick mark on his head.

"But you let Haku keep his bunny!" Naruto pouted.

" _Did Naruto really just compare this girl to a bunny?_ " Haku deadpanned. Seems that Naruto would never cease to surprise him.

"Shinobi-san, please take me with you. I promise I won't get in your way." The girl said. Zabuza looked at her, scanning her for any traits that would tell him where she belonged before finally stopping at the band that rested on her arm.

"Why don't you go back to Waterfall?" he asked.

She flinched before answering, "I can't. If I go back and they see that my teammates aren't with me they will lock me up or kill me without question."

"Aww come on Zabuza-sensei! You can't really leave her like this can you? Just look at her!" Naruto said in full puppy do eyes mode. Zabuza's eye twitched before looking at the girl who was also in the same state.

"What is your name girl?" he finally asked.

"They call me Fu, or 'the demon'" she answered.

Zabuza sighed, " _I'm blaming this on you Yagura, Utakata_ "

"Fine. BUT", he turned to Naruto and Haku; "This is the LAST time, understood?" Both nodded while Fu was beaming with joy. He turned to Fu again, "now, since you are a ninja, I'm assuming you at least know how to use your chakra to an acceptable extent?" he questioned.

"Yes, though not many know it, Shibuki, the son of the village leader teaches me in secret. A few days ago he said that I was around the level of an average genin. That's what made me decide to take this mission, well that and the fact that the council leaders apparently saw me growing stronger and took this as an opportunity to kill me." Fu muttered the last part angrily.

Zabuza heard but ignored the last part, "good, because I don't want to have picked up deadweight." He then turned to Haku and Naruto, "since we have so many interruptions today, we are behind schedule. I wanted us to be back in town before nightfall, but that is nearly impossible now. Not at the pace we were traveling at. So from here to the hotel, I want us to go full-on ninja speed. Got it?"

Seeing everyone, including Fu nod, he turned around, "We travel in single file. Me first, then Haku, Fu and Naruto. Fu, since I am not sure about your speed yet, I am placing you in the middle. If you are unable to continue then Naruto would carry you. He is the second physically strongest after me and I can't carry you because I might still need to fight and react quickly if we come across a hunter-nin or any other similar threat."

Fu nodded, surprised at his quick breakdown of the situation and picking the best formation in the short amount of time. Pretty much every Jinchuriki was naturally physically strong compared to the average ninja and if they did come across enemy ninja they would go for Zabuza first seeing as he is the biggest threat here.

"If any of you two lag behind then you will be doing my special exercises tomorrow. Fu I can understand for now, but you two shouldn't have a reason." Seeing the frightened look on their faces, she deduced that whatever Zabuza's special exercises were, she did not want to find out through experience. "Let's go." he barked.

And just like that, the clearing was calm again. The only sign that there was anyone there was the two dead bodies and drying blood.

* * *

The next day

The group arrived at a clearing that has clearly seen better days. There were marks ranging from small holes that belonged to senbon to slashes that littered the tree trunks. Fu even spotted some trees that had slashes so deep that the tree seemed to be about to fall over while others had already fallen and had been chopped up even more. "What happened here?" Fu asked shocked at the destruction.

"Welcome to our humble training ground." Naruto introduced sarcastically. "We train in pretty much all our skills here. From our precision," Naruto pointed to where the small holes were, "to our strength," he pointed to the fallen trees that upon closer inspection had ropes tied around them, "to our personal specialties." Here he pointed to where the trees had slashes all around them.

"And every week or so we spar in a clearing not far from here. That is where Zabuza gauges our process and what we need more training in. If we don't live up to his expectations, we do a set of his special exercises. If we don't live up to it more than once in a row, he doubles or triples it in accordance to the amount of times we didn't." Haku continued.

Zabuza then walked into the clearing. "Glad to see you getting Fu settled in. Haku, I want you to fight Fu. I need to see what she is capable of before I can train her. Fight her easy then slowly increase the difficulty. Fu, I want you to go all out, no holding back. But no killing techniques allowed."

Haku sighed as he led her to the place where he and Naruto sparred. "Another thing you should know about Zabuza. He is very blunt. He doesn't beat around the bush and waste time and expects you to follow instructions to the best of your ability without wasting any time." As soon as they arrived at the clearing, they both got in battle ready stances.

"Begin"

Haku stood there, waiting for Fu to make the first move. The last few years of training beat that into his head. Never charge head first into a fight with an enemy with unknown strength. Seeing Haku wasn't going to do anything soon, Fu decided to make the first move.

" **Hidden jutsu: scale powder technique**!" she said as she spat out some sparkling powder from her mouth. Not expecting it, Haku was unable to defend himself against it and was temporarily blinded from the scales reflecting the sunlight into his eyes.

Seeing her chance Fu took a running start and landed a flying kick on Haku sending him flying for a few feet. But to her surprise he just stood up like it was nothing. "Good one, I didn't expect that, but now I know of it, it won't work on me twice." Haku grinned at her.

Fu grinned back before making more handsigns. "We'll see. **Water cutting sword justu**!" she called and formed two swords made from water in her hands.

"Oh come on! Am I the only one who doesn't use swords?! Haku complained before ducking to prevent losing his head. Since he was already on the ground he spun on his heel with a leg out in an attempt to trip the duel wielding kunoichi.

Easily seeing it, Fu jumped up and brought her swords down in an attempt to do a jumping slash. She would have succeeded if not for the ice dome Haku formed. Her blades weren't sharp enough to completely cut through the dome and only managed to slightly damage it. She frowned a little before giving a slight smirk.

Haku looked through his ice dome and narrowed his eyes seeing her smirk. Suddenly he was aware of something burning next to him. His eyes widened. "An explosive tag!" he thought in alarm.

"Boom" Fu whispered as she jumped away.

The ice dome shattered in all directions. Fu let her arm fall from where she used it to shield her eyes. The dust cleared to reveal… nothing. Fu's eyes widened before looking around. "Above? To my left? Right? behind? Or…"

"Below!" Haku's voice cried. Fu looked down just in time to receive an uppercut, snapping her head back and knocking her off her feet.

"Nice move, you almost got me with that one. I didn't even see you place it." he praised. The Fu he was looking at smiled. "Then you gonna love this one" she said before turning to water. Haku only had time to widen his eyes before he heard Fu.

" **Hidden jutsu: hiding in scale powder jutsu** "

Haku smirked covering his eyes and jumping away, "I told you, that wouldn't work again!"

Haku was suddenly very glad he jumped away because as soon as he got away, he opened his eyes just to see a huge explosion where he was a moment before. Haku landed on a tree branch and Fu not far from him.

"Not what you expected was it?" she smirked at his shocked expression.

That shocked expression then turned into a smirk as he created a ball of ice. "So you like playing with explosives huh?" Fu tensed

"Well then how would you like to see my personal creation? **Ice grenade**!" he shouted before throwing the ball of ice. Fu's eyes widened as she jumped in the air. They widened even more when she saw that the ball exploded into ice spikes. Finally when she thought her eyes wouldn't widen anymore, she looked at Haku who was holding two more ice grenades.

Thinking fast, she made hand seals for the only technique that could save her. " **net-shaped prison**!" she called before spitting a green web and successfully trapping Haku in its sticky confides. "Now you can't throw them and you can't detonate them without hurting yourself. She smirked. Haku sighed as he let the ice grenade dissolve.

" **Coming of winter** " he whispered before releasing ice chakra from his body. Fu suddenly felt the temperature drop as she saw her web starting to freeze before shattering. "I admit, you almost got me again, but now it's all over" Haku said in a low tone while making hand seals. " **Demonic mirroring ice crystals** "

Fu looked around as blocks of ice started to form all around her. She tried to break it with an explosive tag but it didn't even scratch the surface of the mirrors. She tried to make hand signs for her hiding in the scales technique, but a quick senbon to her hand stopped her short.

Fu started panicking. She made 6 water clones, each heading to a different gap in the mirrors. But before they could even get close, they all turned back to water. "In these mirrors, I am much faster than before. Faster than the human eye can track." Haku's voice echoed around all the mirrors. She felt a cold metal on her neck as she turned to see the masked face of Haku.

"Game over" Fu heard next to her. She sighed as the ice mirrors turned back to water.

"It is" Haku heard behind him as he saw another Fu hold a kunai to his neck. The Fu he had turning to water. Now it was Haku's turn to sigh as they both relaxed and put their weapons away.

They heard clapping. "Good work, both of you. Fu, since you have proven you can keep up with Haku, then you will train with them, though you will focus a little more on chakra control and finesse than brute strength. Haku, you still made a few amateur mistakes such as not checking when you rushed in for the finish. You will do double the training next practice, but because you did this well, I won't put you on my special program." Fu beamed while Haku sighed with relief.

"Also, since Fu is a known kunoichi of waterfall, we can no longer just leave you without ranks. In a week's time, you 3 will battle me to see if you can truly become ninja in my eyes. 1 week for you to get accustomed to each other's fighting styles. No training until then. Relax, train, chat, whatever. Just don't damage anything in town or get in trouble."

"Yes Zabuza!" all three said at once.

* * *

AN: here's the next chapter. Not much to say really. Though as it seems you can expect chapters every Sunday or so. If I don't post I'll say so on facebook.

Also a huge shoutout to AzureSoulReaper for reviewing every single chapter and getting the cookie for correctly guessing Fu (::)

And a cookie for Noahendless for correctly deducting the song "What did the fox say" by Ylvis in his mine rant xD (::)

* * *

Reviews

AmbertheCat: well here's another long chapter, tried to make it longer, *shrugs* don't think it worked. Hope you enjoyed anyways!

BlackDragonShinigami: nah bro, no romance quite yet ;)

AzureSoulReaper: thanks for reviewing the chaps

Noahendless: sorry 'bout that xD I thought about making Naruto joke about it but decided it was too much trouble xD. Also don't worry 'bout it, a rant here and there keeps the author aware =)


	14. training

Chapter 13

Training

On the first day Naruto showed Fu and Haku the shadow clone jutsu and explained how it would help them train. Though it took both a few tries (something that made Naruto grumble about unfairness) neither of them could spam them like Naruto. Fu managed a hundred before having to stop and Haku only 5. The three theorized that it was due to its massive chakra cost and how Naruto naturally had chakra in buckets and the nine-tails as a backup as the reason why there he is barely affected.

Naruto then quickly pointed out that Fu also shouldn't be affected since she has the seven-tails. Having no other explanations, the three decided that maybe it was something they would discover with time and left it and tried to focus on how they would train with maximum efficiency.

Unsurprisingly Haku, not being a powerhouse like Naruto and Fu, relied more on strategy and thus is slightly smarter, suggested that they all write down their jutsu (excluding clones and other basic jutsu). Then they could break down the technique's strengths, range, weaknesses and other information. They took some paper and wrote down what they remembered. Once done they all looked at the papers.

Xxxx

Haku

 **Ice dome**

 **Type: ice, defensive**

Strength: strong defense, unable to see inside

Weakness: unable to see outside

Range: short

 **Ice spikes**

 **Type: ice, offensive**

Strength: little warning

Weakness: requires ice surface

Range: any

 **Ice-grenade**

 **Type: ice, offensive**

Strength: can be concealed and made quickly

Weakness: easy to dodge

Range: close-mid

 **A thousand ice needles of death**

 **Type: water/ice offensive**

Strength: jutsu can be done with 1 hand

Weakness: easy to escape

Range: close to mid

 **Demonic crystal ice mirrors**

 **Type: ice, offensive, support**

Strength: speed increase, camouflage, can use to escape quickly

Weakness: high chakra cost

Range: mid

 **Coming of winter**

 **Type: ice, support**

Strength: easier to use other ice techniques

Weakness: extremely high chakra cost, gets weaker with range

Range: short-mid

Naruto

 **Water wall**

 **Type: water, defensive**

Strength: can block most lower ranked justu, conceals Naruto, water can be reused for other techniques

Weakness: Naruto can't see outside

Range: short

 **Glimmering water chains**

 **Type: water, support, offensive**

Strength: can be formed quickly, low chakra cost, large amount can be formed

Weakness: needs water source

Range: any (provided water source nearby)

Fu

 **Hidden jutsu: scale powder**

 **Type: support**

Strength: can blind opponent

Weakness: easy to blow away

Range: mid

 **Hidden jutsu: hiding in scale powder**

 **Type: offensive**

Strength: can blind and explode

Weakness: easy to blow away

Range: mid

 **Water cutting jutsu**

 **Type: water, offensive**

Strength: low chakra cost

Weakness: lightning,

Range: short

 **Net shaped prison**

 **Type: support**

Strength: traps opponent in sticky web, restricts movement

Weakness: speed

Range: mid

xxxx

The trio looked at each other before Naruto and Fu looked at Haku, "Now what?" Naruto asked.

Haku looked over each of the ninjutsu again before he had an idea. He looked at the Jinchuriki and explained his idea. "none of us are anywhere near strong enough to defeat Zabuza alone, correct?"

The two nodded

"and each of these techniques have their own weaknesses, correct?"

Again they nodded

"get to the point Haku." Naruto impatiently said.

"Well what if we all cover each other's weaknesses and enhance their strengths?" he said as Naruto slowly understood what he meant.

"So like your ice grenade can be made quickly but is easy to dodge, so if Fu was to use her net shaped prison to trap Zabuza, you can hit him with a higher chance of success right?

Haku nodded, "that is the point, yes"

"Alright! What are we waiting for? I'll just create a bunch of clones and we can use any jutsu we can think of in conjunction with each other and see what works best!"

Haku then remembered something Zabuza explained back when it was only the two of them.

xxxxx

Flashback

"Today I will teach you about nature types. This will hopefully help you with your ice style and will give you an idea of each nature's strengths and weaknesses. Of course, most ninja below jonin wouldn't have much more than a few jutsus and prefer to use neutral chakra, but just in case you do met a jonin.

First there are basic elements. These are fire, wind, water, lightning and earth.

Fire is strong against wind but weak against water. Wind is strong against lighting and weak against fire. Lightning is strong against earth and weak against wind. Earth is strong against water and weak against lightning. Finally water is strong against fire and weak against earth.

Some ninjas can mix two of them together to form sub elements like your ice style which is a mix between wind and water.

Usually this is accomplished by lots of training and mastering both elements. However some shinobi have bloodlines that allows them to naturally mix them. Two elements is usually the maximum anyone will achieve, but people like the second and third Tsuchikage have a bloodline that allows them to mix fire, earth and wind and creating the dust style. Keeping up so far?" Zabuza asked.

Haku nodded "so the two elements are mixed internally?"

Zabuza nodded, "usually yes, however they can also be mixed externally when two ninja use their jutsu in conjunction with each other. This is called collaboration and is very deadly. For example, if two ninja were to combine wind and fire, against water of the same rank, the collaboration would usually win as it is stronger."

Flashback end

Xxxx

"What about collaborations?" he suddenly asked.

"What?" Naruto asked back confused.

Haku explained what they are and how it would increase the jutsu's powers.

"That's great an all, but we don't exactly have any jutsu that are compatible with each other. Most of our jutsu are water, ice or neutral." Fu pointed out.

Haku faltered, "guess you're right, I forgot about that."

Haku felt a hand on his shoulder, "it's not a bad idea, it's just that we don't have the jutsus yet." Naruto smiled.

"right, Naruto make those clones and let's get cracking!" commanded.

"yes sir! Shadow clone jutsu!"

Instantly the whole clearing was filled with smoke before an army of Narutos appeared. Naruto made an extra few to stand on the sidelines to observe which was best.

"Alright clones! Today we will be practicing defense and evasion! Evade and defend against everything thrown at you!" Naruto shouted at his clones.

"Haku, Fu, lets fire away!" Naruto shouted as he charged into the crowd slicing away with his sword and jumping around while occasionally firing off a water chain to impale or throw the clones.

Haku and Fu looked at each other before shrugging and charging after him.

Landing in the middle of the crowd Haku gave a strong punch to the face of the nearest clone. "This is oddly satisfying." He said with a grin.

"I know what you mean!" Fu laughed as she backflipped.

"Hey! No hitting below the belt!" a clone cried while protecting his family jewels before dispelling due to a kunai to the head.

If anyone were to watch the trio train, they would wonder about their sanity.

Some hours later, around midday, finally all the clones had been destroyed and the trio was all lying on the ground panting.

"That was fun, but now I'm all out of chakra" Haku grinned.

"Same here" Fu agreed.

"Let's get some food and replenish our chakra before we start taijutsu royal rumble, so we can get used to each other's style" Naruto suggested.

"Good idea, what about money?" Fu asked.

Just then a couple of clones appeared from behind trees holding bags that made clanking sounds.

"Got that covered, made a couple before I came here and another few to reinforce them just as we started" Naruto explained.

"Is it safe to come out yet?" one of the clones asked.

"No more scary boom booms?" another whimpered

Fu couldn't help but laugh, "You're a wimp Naruto."

"Shut up clone, you making me look bad" Naruto muttered with a small blush.

"Does he realize he just told himself to shut up?" Haku whispered to Fu.

Xxxx

The week passed quickly, too quickly. The three kids practiced as much as they possibly could, yet they still didn't think they stood a chance in defeating Zabuza in battle. Even if there _was_ 2 Jinchuriki and an ice-user.

The three got to know each other pretty well. Fu told them about her history and in turn Haku and Naruto told her theirs. Fu was surprised that they were others that were treated just as, if not worse than her for something out of their control. She almost lost control and started leaking some of the seven tails chakra when Naruto told her that he was being experimented on since he could remember. In the end she managed to calm down and they all felt a connection. All of them had a bad past, yet all of them still managed to push through.

Through the use of clones, they knew each other well enough that they could pretty much tell what the other was planning and how to enhance it half the time. Of course, Fu and Naruto worked best since they created the most clones. Though Haku was getting better, the constant use bringing his amount up to 10.

Finally, the day of the test is here. The trio went back at the clearing used for battle where Zabuza was waiting.

"Haku, Naruto, Fu." Zabuza greeted.

"Zabuza" they greeted back.

"I trust you are ready?" Zabuza asked.

The trio shook their heads "we won't be ready for a top jonin like you, not for a few years at least." Haku stated.

"But we have prepared the best we can in the time you have given us." Fu continued.

"Good, you have passed the first part. A shinobi must not be lazy and should be humble. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogant." Zabuza nodded. "But a shinobi's worth is shown through actions. Come at me with full force." He shouted as he grabbed the handle on his sword.

AN: for those who follow me on facebook. I know I said that I probably won't post this week, but turns out that I had a mid-term break that I forgot so I though "why not?" and typed up this chapter =)

Reviews (glad there were so many this time):

BlackDragonShinigami: you think right =)

Noahendless: thanks

AmbertheCat: thanks, here's more =)

Dzerx: I won't spoil anything, but I will say that you can be both happy and disappointed in the future. As for his blue sharingan… soon before chapter 20.

Draco7347: thanks, here you go

Outcastmike: here you go

Zeus501: correct on all accounts, even though you missed Killer B. The bleach guy was Ichigo. I admit that sometimes I run out of things to say and tend to accidently drag it on unnecessarily thanks for bearing with me though. Same as you, I tend to favor grammar a lot (206 favs, maybe a few with bad grammar but all worth a read) and I have only given up on maybe 5 at most with bad grammar and good plot. As for the Rasengan, at the moment it hasn't been decided.


	15. team zabuza

Chapter 14

Team Zabuza

* * *

The three young preteens all dropped in a ready stance. Haku held 3 senbon needles in each hand while Fu made her water swords and Naruto simply placed his hand on his. Each looked at the other in the corner of their eyes before Haku and Fu's eyes stopped on Naruto. Giving a slight nod, Naruto dug his back foot slightly in the ground before taking off at mid-chunin speed and unsheathing his blade.

" **One-slash!** " he shouted mid-swing.

Only to be forced to stop in the face of Zabuza's Executioner Blade.

"OW!" he cried as he hit his head on the large blade. "Not cool Zabuza! That hurt"

"Good. Maybe that will knock you out of your childish tenancies. You are to be fighting as if you're facing an opponent that can kill you. Acting like a child _will_ get you killed. Time to be serious and act the ninja you are trying to be." Zabuza reprimanded seriously.

Haku and Fu were shocked. This wasn't the same kind person who took them. No. this was the Jonin and one of the seven legendary swordsman of the hidden Mist. Haku recovered first, his face hardening slightly as he unclipped his mask and placed it on his face.

Naruto looked up. His face turning from that of a child to that of a man who has faced many battles. It was this that reminded the other two preteens that he had also fought many battles. It was this that reminded them that he had been an experiment under the snake sannin.

" _No child should have that face"_ Zabuza internally frowned.

"I understand" was all Naruto said before he dispersed into smoke, temporarily removing Zabuza's vision.

"Now!" Naruto shouted from the trees.

Haku snapped out of his surprise at the clone and started throwing senbon after senbon into the smoke.

"You would do well to remember that I am the master of the silent killing. Removing my sight will not hinder me in the slightest" Zabuza said as many clanks were heard as the senbon impacted against his massive blade.

The smoke cleared to reveal senbon lying all around Zabuza who was standing there without a single mark on him.

"If seeing dark does nothing to you, how about flashing colors? **Hidden jutsu: scale powder!** " Fu shouted while releasing some powder that caught the light from the sun and reflected it in Zabuza's eyes, again blinding him.

" **Ice style: coming of winter"** Haku muttered as frost started creeping towards Zabuza.

Zabuza prepared to jump away from the blinding powder but was unable to as he slipped from the frost that had solidified into a thin layer of ice.

The Jonin couldn't contain his surprise and opened his eyes wide. The powder reflected a large amount of light into his eyes and stunning him again. His brain focused on the damage to his eyes and he barely registered his other senses.

Seeing Zabuza stunned, Haku continued pressing. **"Ice style: ice spikes"** he said as he caused the existing ice below Zabuza to shoot up and impaling him.

"Did we get him?" Fu asked, letting her guard down slightly.

"No, it won't be that easy" Naruto said as he tensed even more.

True to Naruto's words, the Zabuza Haku impaled turned into water.

 **"** **Hidden mist jutsu"** Zabuza's voice called from around them.

Haku and Naruto tensed before relaxing and focusing their senses while Fu looked around, not sure what to do.

Realizing that Fu hadn't been trained in the silent killing, Naruto created a clone with double the usual chakra. "Protect her" he commanded.

The clone nodded and ran off to follow his orders.

The training ground was silent for another moment before a leaf rustled.

" _There!"_ both Naruto and Haku thought at the same time.

 **"** **Water style: Glimmering water chains"** Naruto shouted as he created chains from Haku's melted jutsus and sending them towards where he heard the sound.

 **"** **Water style: a thousand needles of death!"** Haku followed by sending a hail of water needles.

Both were then hit from behind by clones of Zabuza. "Don't announce your position to your enemy if you don't have to" they said at the same time.

Haku groaned, "We may be decent with the silent killing, but Zabuza's on a whole different level."

"Yeah, this mist has got to go" Naruto agreed.

"Time to step it up, now it's a ninjutsu battle." Zabuza called. **"Water style, water dragon jutsu"** his voice echoing and stopping them from pinpointing where the dragon would be coming from.

 **"** **Water style: water wall!"** Naruto called as he put more chakra than usual to withstand the A-rank ninjutsu.

Though he severely underestimated how much he put in. the water wall grew to double its usual size and its rotation spun twice as fast. Instead of impacting against the water wall, the water dragon was actually absorbed! Due to its rotation, it also started creating a vacuum that pulled all the mist into it and dispelling the jutsu.

" _Totally called it. A water wall strong enough to create a suction that sucks in my mist. And at his age no less"_ Zabuza thought to himself.

Naruto dropped his water wall and was dropped to his knees panting while Haku and Fu looked at him in amazement.

"That was so cool Naruto!" Fu shouted.

"I admit, that was a good idea, but now you are left with much less chakra than before. Even a chakra house like you won't be able to use that much chakra without severely draining yourself" Zabuza analyzed.

" _Dammit, he's right."_ Naruto thought as he snaked a hand to his pouch. Grabbing a chakra pill, he swallowed it before standing up again. "This won't last very long. We must finish this fight quickly." He said. "Fu, distract him, I have an idea." Naruto called.

"Right" she shouted back as she launched herself towards Zabuza ready to engage in a kenjutsu battle. Usually fighting a larger and more experienced opponent in a kenjutsu battle would be a bad idea, but her small body allowed for more speed and she managed to dodge Zabuza's large swings and dance around him.

"Haku, can you carry people with you in your mirrors?" Naruto whispered.

Haku thought for a second before nodding, "I can, though it will be much more chakra taxing to move them, and there is a chance they will get hypothermia."

"What if you created the mirrors and I move between them with my chains and clones?" Naruto suggested.

Haku's eyes widened as he caught on what Naruto was planning. "That could work, but you must do it quickly. I will be able to keep the mirrors up at 30 seconds at most"

Naruto nodded, "alright, you prepare that. I'll back up Fu for now." he said as he ran off to support his fellow Jinchuriki.

He arrived just in time to stop Fu from getting a kick. Using Zabuza's distracted state, she weaved a few hand signs to try and bind him. " **Hidden jutsu: net shaped prison"** she said as she spat out multiple green webs.

Though she failed to fully trap him, she managed to get his sword stuck to the ground and covered one of his hands- preventing him from creating anymore hand signs.

The jonin was forced to leave his sword when he saw Naruto and many of his clones charging at him with their swords drawn. He jumped back and landed in the middle of the clearing- straight into Haku's trap.

" **Ice style: demonic mirroring ice crystals"** Haku called from the trees. At once, the water left from Naruto's water wall rose up and created a dome made of mirrors. Naruto stepped in the one closest to him while his clones followed suit in the other mirrors, leaving the one on top for Haku to run distraction.

" _Haku wasn't kidding when he said the there is a chance I would get hypothermia. This is cold! How does he stay here for so long?"_ Naruto wondered as he shivered slightly.

 **"** **Water style: glimmering water chains"** Naruto muttered as a chain made of water came out of his sleeves and wrapping around his arm. Naruto and his clones then proceeded to dash out of the mirrors with their chains trailing behind them at random intervals. Each would dash out, cross Zabuza and disappear back into the closest empty mirror before he could react. Occasionally giving him a punch just to be sure he didn't escape and whenever he tried to move, Haku threw some senbons to force him back.

Soon enough, chains were all around Zabuza leaving him no space to move. The clones and original all pulled on their respective chains and tightening the chains that wrapped around Zabuza before stepping out of the mirrors to allow Haku to dispel it.

Fu came up to Zabuza and held her water swords crossed at Zabuza's throat, signifying the match to be over.

"Good work. You three showed decent teamwork for kids who only met around a week ago. Naruto, you created a clone to protect Fu, knowing that she is at much more of a disadvantage in my mist and even created a strong enough water wall to suck up my mist. Very few ninja can accomplish such a feat. Fu, you kept my attention on you and brought enough time for Naruto and Haku to create a decent strategy to immobilize me and your accuracy with that net shaped prison was spot on. Though you didn't fully immobilize me, you still managed to take my kenjutsu, ninjutsu and partially taijutsu out of play. Haku, your ice jutsus are improving. Sneaking your ice below me without me noticing until it was too late, and even allowing Naruto and his clones to use your ice mirrors to trap me. All three of you are worthy shinobi in my books" Zabuza praised. Causing them to blush.

"and as of today, I am your sensei, and you are team Zabuza." Zabuza announced proudly.

Naruto dropped his chains in shock and Haku sighed happily before dropping from chakra exhaustion. A nearby clone caught him before he could hit the ground.

"You guys did well. Rest for now. I will talk to you again when Haku wakes up." Zabuza told them before leaving.

Naruto and Fu sighed before sitting down themselves.

Naruto noticed Fu looking a little down and asked what was wrong. "Why do you look so down? We are now team Zabuza! This is a happy occasion!"

"It's just that you and Haku both did so much. I barely did anything at all." She sighed.

"Of course you did! You brought me and Haku time to plan and even took away his sword and the ability to wield hand signs! If you didn't, the fight would have been much harder to win!" he encouraged.

"Yeah, but that's all I did! You took away the mist, had to protect me, and trapped Zabuza with Haku alone! I didn't do anything!" she argued.

"That's because most of your jutsu are supports. We have more offensive jutsu that work against him." Naruto consoled her. "And if you think that isn't enough, then all the more reason to train harder!"

Fu's eyes lightened a little. "Yeah! I will train harder until I surpass both of you!" she said with determination.

"That's the spirit!" Naruto cheered. "Though I think that will have to wait a while. I seem to be having trouble getting up" he sweat dropped.

Fu laughed a little before creating 4 clones. "2 for each of you" she said.

"Oi! I'm not fat!" Naruto protested.

The clone closest to him poked him in the chest "hmm I don't know" she said before turning around again to hide her blush from when she felt his muscles.

Fu and her clones carried the downed boys through town and to the hotel. A peculiar sight for all who saw them.

* * *

AN: aaand done. Phew this was a long chapter (for me anyways). If you don't know from my facebook account yet, the prologue and chapters 1-6 and 13 are now edited thanks to Jman22056

* * *

Reviews:

Zeus501: I suppose you do have a point, more stories read = more stories given up on. As for the public reviews, yeah this is my pride and joy (lol) at the moment. So I'm pulling all the stops. The bigger authors probably don't respond because they have reviews in the 10 000s and answering it would be such a drag xD. As for the elements, I suppose I might give him a second affinity later on, but water will remain the only primary (from what I have planned), so no ice jutsus for him (unless he does what those shinobi in the snow/spring country did with manipulating the water inside)

EmeraldFox57: thanks, I would like to think that my idea is completely (well 95%) original. Anyways, here's that update

AmbertheCat: glad to see you enjoying it. and yes, team 7 will show up in a few chapters (like 2 or 3)


	16. the blacksmith with the metal style

Chapter 15

The blacksmith with the metal style

* * *

Haku woke up with a groan. "Hey! Haku's awake!" a voice shouted.

"Shut up Naruto, it's too early for shouting" Haku groaned again.

"How are you feeling Haku?" Fu asked.

"Tired, yet still happy" Haku answered.

"Of course you should be happy! We passed Zabuza-sensei's test! We are now team Zabuza!" Naruto shouted, clearly still giddy at the thought.

"Yeah, but remember that was only because he let us." Haku reminded.

"What do you mean Haku?" Fu asked.

"I mean did you notice that when Zabuza-sensei used the hidden mist, he didn't use his killing intent and even made a noise. Normally he would freeze his opponents with the killing intent before going straight for the kill without making a sound. It's not normal for him to even rustle a leaf." Haku explained.

"That's right!" Naruto exclaimed "but maybe he wanted us to pass?" he offered.

The trio shrugged. "Who knows?" Haku sighed.

"Still I wonder what our first mission as team Zabuza would be" Naruto mused.

"Getting stocked up" Zabuza said appearing next to him.

"Aaahh!" Naruto cried in surprise, "Stop sneaking up on me!" he shouted.

"Then maybe you shouldn't let yourself be such an easy target" Zabuza retorted. Before Naruto could argue back Fu decide to step in.

"What do you mean "stock up" Zabuza-sensei?" she asked.

"Exactly that. Since you are ninja, you'll need the tools. The difference in a single kunai could be the deciding factor in a battle." Zabuza explained. "I'm going to take you to an old friend of mine. In fact, we were on the same team for a bit before I became one of the seven swordsmen. His name is Ryuunosuke Higurashi."

Zabuza paused before looking at Haku, "He was the one that provided me with the weapons and tools for my attempted coup, because like you he is a bloodline user. The metal style carried in Higurashi blood. This bloodline allows them to become some of the best weapon smiths in the world. In fact the seven legendary swords of the Mist, the Raijin blade of the second Hokage and even the Kusanagi of Orochimaru the sannin were all made by Higurashi." He explained before looking at the newly made ninja who were looking at him with awestruck faces.

"Wow! All those legendary weapons!"

"Yeah! The Higurashi must be so talented!"

"I wonder if we will get a cool weapon!" Fu and Haku looked at Naruto for his last comment.

"What? I want a cool weapon!" Naruto pouted.

"I doubt it Naruto, each of those weapons took an extremely talented Higurashi years to make and costs millions of ryo. Ryo we don't have." Zabuza shot him down.

"I'm allowed to hope" Naruto pouted as he saw the faces of Haku and Fu who were trying their hardest not to burst out laughing. "Laugh it up, but when I get my awesome super weapon I will be the one laughing at you!" Naruto declared.

"You _do_ realize that if anyone was to get a new weapon, it would be me or Fu right? You already have your own golden sword. Don't be greedy Naruto." Haku reminded him.

"Oh yeah! Speaking of which, I really need to find something to store this in. At the moment it's so easy to steal and I can't surprise anyone with it." Naruto mused.

"I'll ask Ryuunosuke to draw a storage seal on you and see if he could also put a summoning and defense seal on the sword" Zabuza told him.

"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto cheered.

* * *

Three days of traveling later, the four ninja arrived on a hill not far from a town.

"If I remember correctly, and if he hadn't moved, this is where Ryuunosuke ran to avoid the bloodlione massacre." Zabuza told them before knocking in what seemed to be a pattern.

Seeing their confused faces he explained. "Back when we were on the same team, we devised a code to communicate in case there was an attack and we were held hostage. This was an idea suggested by our third teammate"

"Where is your third teammate?" Haku asked.

"Yeah! Tell us more about your team!" Fu looked at him with big eyes.

"She died on one of our missions. I lost my cool and slaughtered all the enemies. That's what drew the attention of the Seven swordsmen. After that, as you can guess, our team disbanded. Though sometimes I would work with Ryuunosuke on missions or just to remember our lost teammate. This went on for a few years until Ryuunosuke hit Jonin and heard that they planned the massacre. A few weeks later, his clan was hit and most fled to other countries."

"And I ended up here" a gruff yet soft voice said as the door opened. "It's been many years Zabuza."

The group of ninja looked at the man who opened the door. He was heavily muscular with arms that looked strong enough to bend the toughest steel without breaking a sweat. He wore an apron with some rips and tears over a blue overall. He had a trimmed beard that was slightly singed and a hammer in his right hand.

"It has Ryu." Zabuza simply said. "I was just telling my new team here about our team. You, me and… Shiro." At this both their eyes saddened.

"Yeah, come in. I built a grave for her. Let's go pay our respects." Ryuunosuke said as he walked back in.

"She must have meant a lot to both of them huh?" Haku whispered.

"She did. Shiro was like the sister we never had. Always worrying for us and lightning up the mood with her childish personality. She had the potential to be the best medic ninja the Mist has ever raised." Zabuza said, somehow hearing them.

"I-I-I'm sorry Zabuza-sensei! I didn't mean to-" Haku tried to apologize.

"Don't worry" Zabuza assured him before they saw the grave. It wasn't very classy. It had a simple grave stone and a table in front of it. The table had a bowl of fruit and a cup of water on either side. In the middle of it, was a picture of Zabuza, Shiro, Ryuunosuke and another man that was presumed to be their sensei.

* * *

5 minutes later, the 4 shinobi finished paying their respects before standing up.

Turning around Zabuza grasped Ryuunosuke's arm in a firm handshake. "Thank you Ryu, it's been too long since I've seen her."

"It's the least I could do for our sister" Ryu said, grasping Zabuza's arm just as hard. Walking back in the house, the blacksmith went to the kitchen to get some tea while Zabuza and the trio waited in the living room.

"So what brings you here Zabuza? I doubt this is just a friendly visit." Ryuunosuke said as he walked back in with a tray that had a pot of tea and 5 cups.

"You're right. I need some special supplies for my team here. Normally, I would go to some random store, but this is a special occasion and I decided that normal stores just wouldn't do." Zabuza explained.

"Your team? You back with the Mist?" Ryuunosuke frowned.

"No, the Massacre is still in effect." Zabuza said, "This is just some people I found"

"Hey!" Naruto complained.

"Haku is a bloodline user like you. Naruto and Fu are both Jinchuriki." Zabuza introduced.

"Jinchuriki?" the blacksmith was surprised. "Like Yagura and Ukataka?" he asked.

"Yes, Fu has the Seven tails, and Naruto the Nine." Zabuza told him.

Ryuunosuke nearly dropped his tea in shock. "You really hit the jackpot with this didn't you?"

"Hey! I thought we weren't going to reveal that piece of information to anyone!" Naruto complained.

"Quiet Naruto, Ryuunosuke is a friend of Zabuza-sensei and if sensei trusts him, so should we." Haku explained.

"Yeah!" Fu agreed.

" _Everyone is picking on me_ " Naruto thought while a dark cloud appeared above his head.

"Anyways, Ryu. We need some supplies. A hundred kunai and shuriken, a dozen chakra and food pills, 2 dozen explosive tags and 3 pairs of gravity weights seals. Also, is it possible for you to draw a storage seal on Naruto, as well as a summoning and defense seal on his sword?" Zabuza asked.

"Come on Zabuza! That's not even a challenge! I'll even make the kunai and shuriken now! Give me an hour to collect those pills and to brush up on my defense and summoning knowledge. Seals are a delicate art." Ryuunosuke said beating his chest. "Come with me."

* * *

The 4 ninja and 1 former went outside to Ryunosuke's backyard.

 **"Earth style: earth pit"** he said stomping his feet and causing the ground to sink in 3 perfect squares about half a meter deep and wide.

" **Metal style: metal river** " he said making a few hand signs. Ryuunosuke spewed out a greyish liquid into one of the pits.

Making more hand signs without missing a beat he started the final part. " **Metal style: weapon creation.** " The liquid metal from the pit rose up before forming into 100 kunai and shuriken and dropping into the other pits.

"That was so cool!" Naruto exclaimed.

The weapon smith took a deep breath before grinning at the group, "all done. 100 kunai and shuriken. Just need the pills and the sealing."

"Alright then Ryu, we'll just go and book ourselves a room and be back" Zabuza said. "You can do the sealing when we get back. See you in a bit"

* * *

True to his boast, Ryuunosuke had already had everything packed and organized by the time the group had come back.

"Give me your sword Naruto" Ryuunosuke ordered. Naruto hesitated a bit before handing it over when he saw Zabuza nod.

Ryuunosuke looked it over for a moment, marveling at its beauty. "The craftsmanship on this is amazing! This far surpasses anything I have ever seen. Where'd you get this?" he asked.

"Mifune-sensei gave it to me." Naruto answered.

"Amazing. And to think, this sword is still dormant." The blacksmith mused.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked confused.

"Ah, you do not know? Every well-made sword, swords that the creator made with his heart, are all sentient. They all lay dormant until someone wakes them up. My father told me that when someone wakes them up, they will go through a test. Should they pass, they will learn the sword's name and the sword will be a huge help in battle. Kenjutsu will become a second nature and the user will gain a partner for life. Some swords even develop their own defense system like Kisame Hoshigaki's Samehanda." He explained. "Speaking of which, have you woken yours yet Zabuza?" he asked.

"No, I don't think that I am the one who will awaken him." Zabuza sighed.

"Don't give up, you are still young. Maybe the opportunity hasn't presented itself yet." Ryuunosuke offered.

"Maybe, but I doubt it." Zabuza said doubtfully.

"You never know" Ryuunosuke said as he slapped a seal on the golden sword, "Naruto give me your dominant hand" he ordered. Naruto complied with the order.

Instead of slapping a seal on his hand like Naruto expected him to, Ryuunosuke took out a brush and drew a seal on his hand faster than he could react. "Put some chakra in the seal." He ordered. Naruto did so and the seal lit up before there was a poof of smoke. The sword he was holding in his left hand was suddenly in his right. "Well it works" Ryuunosuke said with a satisfied smirk.

"Thank you Ryuunosuke" Naruto said with a bow.

"No need to be formal with me Naruto" he said and used the brush in his hand to draw a quick chibi Naruto on his forehead. To the others amusement, he wouldn't notice it until he looked in the mirror that night.

"Well, it's been nice seeing you again Ryu, maybe we will come by more often" Zabuza offered.

"Please do Zabuza" the blacksmith replied handing him the gravity seals.

The group exchanged goodbyes with the blacksmith and headed back to the town they made "their base"… Well one of them anyways… a rouge ninja can't stay in an area for too long after all.

* * *

AN: phew done. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I just wanted to add in Ryuunosuke (yes he is an OC) because I plan for him to be a link between two arcs in the future. And because some cool weapons are needed.

Besides that, the next chapter we will finally move on to the wave arc, yay!

All chapter up to and including this one are now edited thanks to Jman22056

And one last thing. Because exams are coming up, I might not post for the next month or so, but I will try.

* * *

Reviews:

Acidreaper: if you reading this… is this better?

Zeus501: noooooooo! You, my friend are a twisted man. Fine, I will add in wind chakra on the condition that you don't kill the kitten. That is my final offer.

Thor94: yeah I got nothing against it, but I would prefer to keep yaoi to the yaoi enthusiasts

BlackDragonShinigami: find out on the next episode of DRAGON BALL… err I mean NARUTOOOOOOO

Noahendless: I will =^.^=

AmbertheCat: glad you enjoyed it. I won't say too much about Konoha, you'll have to wait and see ;). I will say that you will be slightly disappointed and happy though. But I do want to point out that if I let Fu die… how can she be one of the ones in the pairing? O.o. anyways here's chapter 15


	17. Gato

Chapter 16

Gato

* * *

3 years came and went. Naruto just had his 13th birthday. Sometime ago Zabuza had the idea to make October 10th Naruto's birthday. None but Zabuza knew that this was his real birthday.

Naruto had grown out his hair a little with bangs framing his face. He wore a black t-shirt over his mesh shirt and had black cargo pants. Haku and Fu didn't change that much, though Haku did get a mesh shirt underneath his clothes like Naruto and Fu.

Both Fu and Naruto got their own hunter-nin masks. Naruto's had red whiskers on his while Fu decided to go for a green framing and Haku's just got a new standard Mist hunter-nin mask- which caused him to be teased immensely about his lack of creativity. In addition, all three of them got a blank mask "for missions where you would work incognito with me" Zabuza had said.

All three of them wore gravity seals that added various amounts of resistance on each limb. For Fu, it was like moving through mud, for Haku, it was like syrup but Naruto had it worst of them all. It was like moving through wet cement. Of course this was only when they first started. By now each of them had gotten used to the feeling and would probably increase the resistance sometime soon.

As promised, the group visited Ryuunosuke regularly to either chat or get more weapons. It's became a regular thing to visit him around once a month, usually to tell of their missions or to stock up for or after a mission. The kids see Ryuunosuke as some sort of an uncle.

4 months ago, when they visited the blacksmith, Zabuza told him of his plan to return to fight with the rebels and that he wanted Ryuunosuke to go back with him. Ever since then, Zabuza had been trying to convince him.

Each time he had been rejected. By now Zabuza was at his wits end. "It's been almost 6 years Ryu" he said. "It's time to stop running, at this time, the rebels need all the help they can get." He said before looking at the grave of their deceased teammate "it's what Shiro would have wanted"

"I don't know Zabuza. I don't think I can go back. I got too much bad memories there, my clan, Shiro, besides, how can I face all the rebels that have been fighting? Me, they guy who provided the rebels with weapons in the coup, the guy who ran away at the first sign of danger." Ryuunosuke said sadly.

"That's no excuse and you know it. I'm in the same boat as you. I also have bad memories there. I'm the one who started the coup in the first place. Yet I have decided to stop running. Its time you do too." Zabuza said standing up. "I plan on going back after this last mission. I hope you have decided by then."

Ryuunosuke sighed before looking at the grave of his deceased teammate. "What should I do Shiro?" he asked out loud.

* * *

Zabuza found the trio sparring in the yard as they always did whenever he had to speak to Ryuunosuke privately. From what he had gathered, they always switched the conditions. Sometimes it was all out, royal rumble, sometimes it was 2v1, sometimes with restrictions like no jutsu. This time it seemed to be fighting in cold conditions with the occasional random jutsu.

Naruto was fighting Fu in hand to hand on a layer of ice while a few clones stayed back, waiting for an opening. Haku was to the side deep in concentration while beads of sweat were showing on his forehead. He had a clone on each side, one holding an ice grenade in each hand and the other with ice senbon hovering in the air. Each would send out an attack at random intervals to distract the sparring Jinchuriki.

"Team Zabuza, fall in." he commanded after watching for a minute. Immediately Naruto and Fu stopped what they were doing and Haku released his jutsu. "It's time for our next mission." He told them. The group nodded. They were already used to the routine.

They walked towards the door. There they found Ryuunosuke. "See you soon kids" he said with a smile.

"Bye Ryuunosuke" they chorused as they walked out.

"Think about what I said Ryu" Zabuza muttered as he walked past. Ryuunosuke watched them leave. When he wouldn't see them anymore he sighed and walked back in.

* * *

"Our client is a man named Gato. He is the owner of Gato transport and one of the wealthiest men around. Our target is a bridge builder named Tazuna." Zabuza stated, holing up a picture. "We are to meet Gato in Wave country a week from now." The trio of kids nodded with a bit of a sweat drop. It wasn't unusual for them to get assassination missions but seriously, one of the wealthiest men in the world wanting to assassinate a bridge builder?

"With this last mission concludes our training. Once we are paid, we will go back to Ryu one last time before we head to Mist to help with the rebellion." The teens felt a whirlwind of emotions, inside there was shock, fear and each felt a little bit of proudness.

It's been 3 long years since they had become team Zabuza. 3 years of the same routine of train, mission, visit Ryuunosuke. Now it was going to change. They would likely have to fight much stronger enemies and there was a much greater chance they would be killed.

"Do you think we are ready?" Fu asked. Though she knew she was much stronger than before, she still wasn't sure she was strong enough to fight in a war.

"Of course. I wouldn't take you back there if I didn't." Zabuza told her. "I would rate you around chunin level. Not strong enough to take on a full jonin yet, but I'm sure you would give a lot of them a run for their money. Especially if you work as a team" he said. Each of them beamed with pride.

"Enough talk, it will take 5 days to get from here to Wave country if we go civilian speed, and add in the fact that we still have to avoid patrols when crossing the boarders, we will make it in exactly a week." Zabuza calculated.

* * *

Naruto stared at their client from the shadows of his mansion. Behind his masked his mouth twitched. " _This midget is Gato? He's even shorter than me!_ " he thought while trying to hold back his laughter.

Gato was a short man. He wore a black business suit with a purple tie. He also had puffy brown hair and a small pair of glasses. "Who are you?" he asked rudely.

"I am Zabuza Momochi, the ninja who took on your assassination mission" Zabuza answered, clearly experienced on rude clients.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Gato sneered before looking at Zabuza's appearance. "You don't look like much. Barely better than some gangster. And what's with that huge sword? Bet you can't even wield it. I think you better leave. I'll get someone more competent than some guy who carries around a sword hoping that would be intimidating enough." He insulted before turning around, "Guards, escort him outside." He commanded.

Two thugs moved forward to grab onto Zabuza's arms, but before they could even get within arm's reach, each had been frozen in fear. Naruto and Fu each had a kunai around a "guard's" throat while Haku had one around Gato's.

"It was not wise of you to insult our sensei" Haku said monotony.

"W-w-who are you" Gato stuttered as he felt the temperature drop a few degrees.

"Gato, meet my students, Naruto, Fu and Haku." Zabuza introduced. As each name was called, the teens removed their kunai from their targets before removing their masks. "As you can see, you could have easily been killed by my students alone. Now, do you still feel I'm not competent enough? Or should I just leave? Before you answer, bear in mind that I don't like wasting my time." He stated as he effortlessly took the large blade off his back before swinging it and stopping it just short of touching Gato's throat.

"F-fine! You can take the job" Gato snarled as he tried and failed to look intimidating. "But pull something like that again and I'll replace you."

"Duly noted, now I believe that our rooms have also been organized?"

Gato snarled again, "Kenpachi, take them to a room." He commanded as he stormed out.

Zabuza looked at the terrified man, "Well? Lead the way."

* * *

The trio of teens went into town to do some scouting. What they expected was a town like all the others they've been to. What they saw was a town that was run down and in poverty. Children were begging and starving, the prices were ridiculous, around 4 times the usual for outdated and rotten food. The overall atmosphere was gloomy and there was a look of hopelessness in everyone they saw. The trio saw this and felt sick.

"I don't understand!" Fu muttered, causing the other two to look at her. "From what we were taught in Waterfall, Wave shouldn't be like this! It should've been prospering as the center of trade!" A random passerby heard this and took pity on her confusion.

"We once were, that was a year ago." He said. "Then a man named Gato came to our village, he seemed like such a nice man. He used his wealth to help Wave. He built new houses and hired people to remove the bandits in the surrounding area. Soon we all grew to like him. Slowly, he asked each business to join and be part of his. Seeing how much he had helped us, nobody disagreed. Soon the whole of Wave's costal trade was under his was only then that we discovered that he was more than we thought.

He was a drug dealer, a smuggler and had own personal army, the bandits we though he had killed was actually offered a place in it. One day, he came to Wave personally and demanded outrageous taxes to be paid to him. Though we knew we never could afford such outrageous amounts, the army he brought kept us in line." He sighed.

"Then why don't you rebel?" Naruto asked.

"We did. One man, Kaiza, who was a wandering fisherman who came to our village 2 years ago and saved one of our children. He knew what Gato was doing was wrong. He rallied the people to rebel. We refused to pay the taxes and even attacked the tax collectors. Kaiza became our hope." He said while smiling a little at the memory. "But it was not to be. By the end of two weeks, Kaiza was captured by Gato. He gathered the whole town and tortured him before killing him to show the town the fate of those who opposed him. Ever since then the whole town has felt like there's been no hope" he finished sadly.

"That's it? You going to let Gato keep doing this?" Haku asked surprised.

"Of course not" he said with determination before looking around. Seemingly satisfied that he didn't find what he was looking for he whispered, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Tazuna, our town's bridge builder is building a gigantic bridge to connect us to the mainland. The plan is that trade will continue through the bridge, thus breaking his hold on Wave." The trio's eyes widened in surprise when they heard of their target's name, but being ninja they quickly recovered and hid it.

"That's great news!" Fu whispered acting like she thought it was great news to draw the man's attention away from when they almost got caught. "Where is he now?" she asked.

"It is." He said smiling, though he could have sworn that the other let go of a breath they were holding but dismissed it as his imagination, after all, there's nothing a couple of kids could hide was there? "He is almost completed the bridge, now is the dangerous part. There are rumors that Gato has hired shinobi to kill him so he went to the Hidden Leaf village to hire shinobi to protect himself. He should be back any day now."

The trio looked at each other, each thinking the same thing. " _We must report this to Zabuza-sensei_ " They each gave a slight bow to the man "thank you" they chorused before leaving.

* * *

Team Zabuza sat around a table staring at a map. The trio had just reported their findings to Zabuza and were waiting to be told their next move.

"If the bridge builder went to the Leaf, he would most likely follow this path back." He mused tracing a route on the map. "Naruto. Fu. Create a strong shadow clone to monitor the route. When you come across them, have the clones engage to test their skill. Dispel when you think you have gathered sufficient information." He ordered. "if you have an opportunity to kill him, don't hesitate."

"Yes sensei" Naruto and Fu chorused before concentrating.

" **Shadow clone jutsu** " they said as their chakra flared and used the amount they would for 10 for a single one.

"Go" Zabuza ordered. The clones nodded before disappearing to complete their mission.

* * *

AN: Yo. I finally finished exams and since you have been waiting long enough, I typed out this chapter as fast as I could. (Surprisingly it reached 2500 words which is above my average amount!)

With this chapter starts the wave arc! Yay!

Also, this chapter has been Betaed by Jman22056

* * *

Reviews:

BlackDragonShinigami: Déjà vu much?

Zeus501: muahahaha go kitten! =^.^=

AmbertheCat: it's true there aren't many unique strong Naruto fics out there. I myself have seen my share of strong Naruto fics that are so similar I have to double check to see if I hadn't already read it. I suppose you can say that it's one of my subconscious reasons for creating this story from scratch. Hmm, for Konoha reacting to Naruto, well they won't know for quite some time, though Kakashi might be a different story. The blue sharingan has its own lengthy explanation that will be explained later on (though he will receive the sharingan in a few chapters). Finally his parents. I did drop a hint in chapter 7 when Zabuza was ranting, so yes they are still Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, though I am going to take some liberties with his grandparents. I believe that I answered all your questions without giving away too much. Thanks for your support!

Noahendless: thank you

LordVanity: umm… ok?

Dinobae: honestly I received a notification email to your review in class and I just stared at it for a minute like an idiot…

MiseryWolf97: I'm looking forward towards the relationships too; I've always been a big fan of Fu. (Hey that rhymes!) The sword names haven't really been decided yet. I'll put in request for names later when some things are revealed.


	18. past revealed, fangirls strike

Chapter 17

Past revealed, fangirls strike

* * *

Zabuza watched as the smoke from the clones cleared before turning towards the trio. "You should all rest up. It's close to dark and by my estimations; your clones should encounter them around midday tomorrow." Zabuza deducted. "We will discuss battle plans tomorrow morning."

* * *

The next morning

The group had finished drawing up the plans for the encounter. They planned for different scenarios, how to act and the formations for each one. On the table, pieces of paper were all over the place. These were the notes and formations.

For a low-level chunin team, the teens would engage while Zabuza only observed, interfering only when necessary, this was their usual plan. For a team of low-level Jonin, Zabuza would use his mist while they killed as many as possible before fighting the rest head on. If it was just one high-level Jonin, only Zabuza would engage while the teens stayed back. "You wouldn't be able to keep up in a high Jonin battle" he said, but they all knew that Zabuza only said that because he cared about them… well that and he felt his skills were rusting and needed a workout.

The group stared at the papers. The planning went too quickly. It was almost always the same formations for the same scenarios. The only times there were differences were when one of them were too injured to play their part or if it was a delicate mission. Team Zabuza sighed. There was nothing to do until the clones dispelled.

Suddenly, (and surprisingly) Naruto got an idea.

"Zabuza-sensei, tell us more about your time in Mist! Were there other Jinchuriki there?" Naruto spoke, breaking the silence.

"Hmm? What brought this on?" Zabuza asked.

"Well, since we are going to the Mist after this, I thought that we should get a little more info on the situation, and what we could be expecting to face." Naruto answered sheepishly.

"Good thinking." Zabuza nodded, "To answer your question. Yes there were Jinchuriki in Mist. Yagura the fourth Mizukage and Ukataka, the containers for the 3 and 6 tails respectively" He started. "Yagura was once a friend/teacher of mine. I was barely 10, and he was a Jonin when I met him. I was sitting alone by a tree. Even back then I had the aura that seemed to scare other children from me. It was the day when I was to be enrolled into the Mist academy."

* * *

Flashback

A young Zabuza sat at the base of a tree near the academy. He stared at all the children and their smiling faces while their parents told them of how proud they were.

Zabuza sighed. Family. What a foreign concept. Zabuza was an orphan. He was told his parents died on a mission not long after he was born. A young looking youth appeared behind the gloomy child. "Aren't you attending the academy?" he asked.

Zabuza looked up and saw a man with a head of messy-grey hair, pink pupiless eyes and a stitch-like marking running from under his left eye down his cheek. He wore a grey sleeveless shirt with the Hidden Mist headband attached to the front, short-sleeved mesh armor over which he also wore a green poncho along with a turquoise slash around his waist paired with a green apron over his pants. He wore brown boots and carried a staff with uneven sized hooks with a green flower on the larger end.

"Of course I am!" he sniffed "and I'm going to be a great shinobi too!" he declared.

"Oh? And where are your parents?" the man asked.

Zabuza's demeanor instantly changed. The man watched with interest as Zabuza's shoulders slumped. "They're dead" he muttered. The man was about to comment further when the bell rang for the beginning of the academy year.

"Better go, else you'll be late for class" he said instead before turning and walking away.

"Wait! What's your name?" Zabuza called after him, scared the only one who wasn't afraid to approach him was leaving him.

"My name is Yagura, see you around" Yagura called over his shoulder before disappearing in a swirl of water.

Flashback end

* * *

"And from that day, until I graduated, he would meet me in front of the school gates whenever he didn't have a mission. By the second year, he was already training me in the shinobi arts. Before I knew it, I saw him as a teacher and someone I could talk to." Zabuza finished.

Haku's eyes widened "so that's how you managed to kill your entire graduating class" he realized.

"Yeah, well that and the fact that one of them pissed me off. I dare him to say that about my family again" Zabuza grumbled.

The trio sweat dropped. "What about the other one?" Naruto and Fu asked in unison, interested to hear more about fellow Jinchuriki.

"I only met him a few years after I graduated, and that was only briefly" Zabuza frowned. "It was after the mission Shiro died."

* * *

Flashback

A teenage Zabuza was seen sitting on a cliff looking out at the ocean. He was weeping silent tears for his lost teammate. Of course, he had killed every single one of the shinobi there with nothing but kunai and his rage, but apparently some escaped because a few days later, he was registered in the Bingo book as a B-ranked shinobi. Nicknamed "Demon of the Mist" and Zabuza felt that was accurate. He felt no remorse for taking the lives of all the shinobi there. They deserved it for killing someone like Shiro.

"It's quite the view isn't it?" a voice called behind him.

Zabuza wiped his tears away before turning around to see a tall, thin young man with pale golden eyes and brown hair that reached his shoulders. He wore a grey full body suit along with a variant of the Hidden Mist flak jacket that had very low shoulder guards as well as a zipper and a pouch on his upper chest. He also wore the Mist forehead protector, fingerless gloves and bandages on his forearms.

"Who are you? And what do you want?" Zabuza asked with suspicion and caution.

"My name is Ukataka. I came to see for myself the "Demon of the Hidden Mist" and I got to say, the rumors were exaggerated. True, the death of your teammate caused you to create a slightly physical demon construct though sheer killing intent and rage. But despite the rumors and the Bingo book, you aren't a demon. If anyone were to be "Demons of the Mist", it would be me and Yagura. Demons aren't capable of feeling sorrow." He said as he walked off.

Flashback end

* * *

"Only later, during the coup- when I fought Yagura as the Mizukage and he unleashed the 3 tails, did I realize that he was talking about them being Jinchuriki." Zabuza concluded.

"Is Ukataka still in Mist?" Haku asked.

"No, a week after I saw him, he left the village and as declared a missing nin" Zabuza answered.

* * *

Naruto and Fu's clones were bored. They arrived at a cropping of trees not too far from Wave, yet still far enough for Team Zabuza to get ready once alerted. The clones saw that night was approaching and each took turns keeping watch while the other one rested to conserve energy. Finally when the sun rose and neither of them could sleep anymore, they started to play a game.

"Hmm, I'm thinking about a ninja whose skin is blue an-" Fu started her turn before being interrupted.

"Kisame Hoshigaki." Naruto drawled. "Seriously, that was too easy, you running out of ninja?" he teased.

Their game was simple. They would take turns and on each turn they would think of a ninja from the Bingo book. They would describe the ninja by using either color, known achievements, weapons or anything else they could think about while the other had to guess it.

"O-of course not!" Fu blushed. "Fine, your turn" she huffed upon seeing his unbelieving look. Naruto was about to start his turn when he heard voices coming down the road. He quickly motioned for Fu to be quiet as they both hid in the branches of the tree they were resting on.

".. Doesn't Wave have their own ninja?" a high pitched voice was heard asking. "No Ami, unlike the Leaf, Wave is mainly a trading village and thus relies on surrounding villages for protection." A lower pitched, clearly male, voice answered.

"Yeah Ami! Use your brain! If Wave had their own ninja, why would they hire us" another high pitched voice added in.

The group came into view and the clones nodded to each other. Their target was confirmed. Both ninja put on their blank masks before attacking the group.

" **Hidden jutsu: scale powder technique** " Fu muttered while blowing out some glittering dust that hovered over the group for a second before catching the sunlight and reflecting it into their eyes.

Taking advantage of their confusion, Naruto attacked. " **Water style: glimmering water chains** " Naruto muttered. On command, chains of water came up and wrapped around the ninja who seemed to be the highest rank. Dashing out from his cover, Naruto quickly drew his sword " **one-slash** " he declared before cutting the restrained ninja in half.

Just as he sheathed his sword again, Naruto was forced to dodge a fireball heading his way. He narrowed his eyes before charging at the shinobi who made it. "Is he another Jonin? Cause he looks a little young to be anything more than genin" Naruto mentally asked himself before looking at him again "and is it just me or does his haircut resemble a duck's butt?"

Ignoring that piece of random information Naruto quickly threw a punch hoping to knock the shinobi out quickly. To his mild irritation, the shinobi dodged before throwing his own punch.

"Go Sasuke!"

"Get him!" the two girls cheered from next to Tazuna.

Naruto's eyes twitched from behind his mask as he dodged another punch. "ow my ears" he internally grumbled. Having enough of this, he ducked under the next swing and unleashed a devastating uppercut that sent the now named Sasuke back towards the group unconscious.

"Sasuke!" both girls cried upon seeing his body flying towards them. Naruto took a moment to look around the area. He spotted Fu sneaking behind the group and getting ready to throw a kunai that would surely kill Tazuna before the girls could react.

Fu was about the throw the kunai when suddenly a deafening screech of "Sasuke!" was heard as the fangirls discovered he was unconscious. Fu dropped her kunai while both she and Naruto clutched their ears in pain. In another second of the screech both clones dispelled.

* * *

Naruto was about to voice his confusion on how Yagura went from being Zabuza's friend, to Zabuza trying to kill him when he and Fu were suddenly hit by a wave of memories. Once they sorted out the memories and reached how the clones died, both their eyes twitched.

"I presume that the clones are dispelled?" Zabuza asked.

"They're dispelled alright" Naruto muttered.

"Well who are we up against?" Zabuza asked.

"1 jonin, 1 male genin, 2 fangirls" Fu muttered

"Oh? Then I can presume the bridge builder is dead?" he asked before raising his non-existent eyebrow when he saw them shake their head.

"We found the bridge builder and the Leaf team as you predicted. Fu used her scale powder to blind them while I used my water chains to restrain the jonin and one-slash to slice him in half- though I believe I saw a log where he was" Fu nodded to confirm his statement. "I then charged towards the bridge builder but was intercepted by some kid with a duck-butt haircut." He continued while Haku (being the mature guy he was) snickered at the "duck-butt" part. "We engaged in a taijutsu fight for a bit before I won. Fu was about to attack the bridge builder when the fangirls screeched with a high enough of a pitch to actually cause our clones to dispel" he finished with his eye twitching.

Haku couldn't hold it in any longer as he finally burst out laughing. Naruto's eye twitched even more violently as Haku continued rolling around in laughter. Finally he stopped enough for Zabuza to ask "Do you know the name of the Jonin?"

Naruto thought for a second before remembering. "Yeah, Kakashi Hatake, the copycat ninja."

"Hmm, things just got interesting. Let's go meet them."

* * *

Team Zabuza perched on some trees near the bridge while they waited for the bridge builder and the Leaf team to show up. Though they couldn't see them, they could still hear them. "Wow! It's huge!" a high pitched voice was heard.

"Seriously, they are loud" Naruto grumbled as he stuffed some cotton in his ear. Finally Zabuza saw the team get off the small boat they used to cross the lake.

"It's time, keep out of this fight. I'm gonna take a stretch. Only interfere if necessary. You know what to do." He said with a pointed look.

"Yes Zabuza-sensei" they chorused before hiding their presences and donning their hunter-nin masks.

"Time to have some fun" Zabuza chuckled before jumping off in the direction of his target.

* * *

AN: wow, last chapter had an overall response of 10 reviews! Thank you all!

Also, is it just me, or does my naming skills suck? Anyways I propose a challenge to my readers who believe they have a better chapter/story title. Just submit it through pm, review or even a message on my facebook page and if ZV and I agree it's better than we will change the title accordingly. Of course you will be mentioned in the next chapter.

This chapter's title goes to salasdaniel74

Next chapter will be Kakashi vs Zabuza

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Reviews

To the guest reviewer, if you are reading this: I do admit the into wasn't much- I plan to rewrite it sometime when inspiration strikes. He found the lake by pure chance. As I said, he just ran for an hour and I dare you to do an hour of full on sprinting (as a 9-year old) without passing out from exhaustion. It's fanfiction, the place where anything can happen. It's not impossible to imagine me manipulating the circumstances to make Naruto just happen to have the qualities the girls wanted. For the jutsu, I have been using quite a lot of them, but are you really saying that it's impossible for some jutsu no to be mentioned in the anime/manga? And keep in mind that I am still improving my grammar and I already have a plot for the story.

Lostxinxthexdarkness: thank you! That means a lot to me. Sorry I didn't put you in the chapter before.

Dxerx: thank you for reading and reviewing but keep in mind there won't be too much fluff. They're only around 12/13 after all!

Zeus501: not quite this chapter but the next one fore sure! ;)

BlackDragonShinigami: lol! Well then I'm gonna keep track of how many different responses I can get out of you ;)

MiseryWolf97: thank you.

AmbertheCat: thank you! There will be changes to the wave arc. As for them dying… well you'll just have to see!

Thor94: dunno ne? (Hint: your review has a sound logic in it) and yes it will awaken in a few chaps (20-22 latest)

Noahendless: thanks I will

Lightblade23: thank you. The infinite one sword style is actually just training the body at this stage. So Naruto isn't really learning techniques but in fact training his body for them later on (though he did put some of it to use during his battle with Mifune- which was the last battle shown). I know I should have put this in the story but it temporarily slipped my mind ^.^ll. I'll try fit that in in a few chapters.

Dinobae: of course! I pay attention to everyone who favs, follows and/or reviews my story!

Comethazel: not too sure what you mean but I'm taking it as a compliment


	19. Battle of the Elites: Demon vs Copycat

Chapter 18

Battle of the elites: demon vs copycat

* * *

Zabuza watched in amusement and disgust as the fangirls fawned over the kid with the duck butt haircut. He looked at the rabbit in his hands _"if he dies Haku is not gonna be happy"_ he thought as he debated whether he should release the mammal as a distraction. Finally he shrugged _"I'll just get him a new one"_ he thought before setting it down at a base of a tree not far from where he was.

Not long after he returned to his tree. The group passed the tree where he left the bunny. "I hear something over there!" one of the fangirls shouted before throwing a kunai into the bushes.

Zabuza's amusement grew when he heard the other girl scream "Ami! Stop trying to show off in front of Sasuke! Everyone can see through your stupid act! It's so obvious it's embarrassing!"

"Ami! Those are kunai knives! They are dangerous!" Kakashi chided.

"Stop trying to scare me you sloppy little girl!" Tazuna screamed, holding his heart.

"But…But... I heard something!" the girl tried to argue before turning around and throwing another kunai, this time by where Zabuza left Haku's pet. "Over there!"

"That's enough Ami!" the pink haired fangirl screamed before stomping over and attempting to hit her.

"Enough Sakura." Kakashi said before wadding through the bushes.

Zabuza winced upon seeing the bunny scared half to death with the kunai missing it by less than an inch. _"Haku's not gonna be happy"_ he thought again seeing the bunny twitch in fear. Seeing Kakashi spot something, the fangirls walked to him, leaving the other males in the middle of the road.

"Ami! Look what you did!" Sakura screamed.

"Nooooo! I'm sorry little rabbit! I'm sorry!" Ami cried as she ran over to hug it.

"All this fuss over a rodent?" Tazuna deadpanned.

Zabuza smirked seeing the gears in Kakashi's head turning. " _Guess the gig's up_ " he thought before heaving his blade and throwing it.

* * *

 _"It's a snow rabbit, usually found in the land of Iron or Snow. Its fur is only white during winter where there's little sunlight. This rabbit was raised indoors which can only be for one purpose..."_ Kakashi thought before looking into the trees. He heard a faint sound of leaves rustling. "Look out!" he shouted before ducking just in time to avoid being decapitated by a large butcher blade

* * *

Zabuza was slightly disappointed upon seeing none of them got killed but none the less leapt from his cover and landed on the handle of his blade that was stuck to a tree.

"Well, well if it isn't Zabuza Momochi. A missing-nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist." Kakashi stated. The kid with the duck butt haircut got a gleam in his eyes as he started charging forward… only to be stopped by Kakashi's hand.

"Sasuke, You're in the way. Stay back" he said

"What! You dare say I, an Uchiha is getting in the way!" he fumed.

"Yes, now stay back. Zabuza isn't like the ninja you saw earlier. He's in a whole other league."

Zabuza watched in amusement but couldn't help but adding in his thoughts " _alone yes, neither Naruto nor Fu could beat me- even if they team up. But once Naruto and Fu team up with Haku, even I have trouble keeping up at times… not that I would tell them that_."

"If he's our opponent," Kakashi said as he lifted his hand towards his headband "then I will need this"

"Kakashi of the Sharingan. Right? It's too bad, but you'll have to hand over the bridge builder." Zabuza stated turning his body around.

"Protect the bridge builder and stay out of this fight" Kakashi commanded "I taught you teamwork. Now use it."

The team of genin watched as he lifted his headband. Frist they saw a scar going vertically down his left eye, when he opened it, they saw his eye was red with a black dot in the middle and 3 tomoe circling it. "I'm ready" he said.

"Well, I guess I get to see the Sharingan in action. This is an honor" he mocked.

"Kakashi-sensei what's a Sharingan?" the pink haired girl asked.

"Sharingan. A rare power that resides in the eyes of the Uchiha. This dojutsu allows us to instantly comprehend any ninjutsu, taijutsu or genjutsu and reflect the attack back on the attacker." Sasuke muttered.

"That's right boy. And judging from that insignia on your back, you're an Uchiha aren't you?" Zabuza asked.

"Yeah! He is the last survivor of the great Uchiha clan!" Ami screeched. "And my soon to be husband!" she continued, looking at the Uchiha with hearts in her eyes.

"In your dreams Ami! He's gonna be my husband!" the pink haired one screeched back. Zabuza grew tired of his ears ringing and half-heartedly threw a kunai at both of them.

"Fangirls, can't stand them" he muttered before turning to the Uchiha, "I heard about the killing of all the Uchiha a few years back, by some guy named Itachi correct? Well it seems he missed one." He sneered.

"And you Kakashi Hatake. In Mist, we had standing orders to kill you on sight. Your profile was in our Bingo book. They called you "copy-ninja Kakashi Hatake the man who copied over a thousand jutsu". But that's enough talking. My mission is to kill the bridge builder, not sit around and chat." Hearing this, the genin quickly moved to protect the bridge builder, Ami to his left, the pink haired one to his right and the Uchiha to his front.

"So, in order to kill him, you'll need to die first." Zabuza's eyes narrowed as he quickly pulled his blade off the tree and jumped onto the water. He put his left hand above his head and his right in front of his face in the tiger seal. " **Ninja art: hidden mist jutsu** " he whispered as a heavy mist appeared covering the area.

"He vanished!" Ami cried.

Kakashi stepped forward "he'll come after me first"

"But who is he?" the pink haired one asked.

"Zabuza Momochi, the ex-leader of the hidden Mist assassination unit. A master of the silent killing."

"S-silent killing" Ami gulped.

"Yes, as the name suggests, it happens in an instant, without sound or warning of any kind. It's so fast, you die before realizing you are killed. Even my sharingan cannot fully counter it, so don't lower your guard."

"Eight points…" Zabuza whispered through the mist, his voice echoing everywhere making it hard to pinpoint his location. "Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys and heart. Now, which will be my kill point?" he asked before focusing his killing intent on the group. Kakashi formed the tiger seal and focusing his chakra, he was able to partially clear some of the mist surrounding him.

 _"What an intense killing intent! It feels like even a single movement is enough to bring on instant death! A clash of two jonin with intent to kill! I've never felt anything like it!"_ Sasuke thought before bringing the kunai in his hand to his throat, ready to kill himself to get rid of the pressure.

"Sasuke! Calm down!" Kakashi's voice was like a blade cutting through his suicidal thoughts. "I'll protect you with my life. All of you. I won't allow my comrades to die!"

"I wouldn't be so sure" Zabuza whispered from the middle of the group, blade poised to slice. "It's over." He said before swinging his sword. Kakashi's eyes widened as he made a mad dash towards the group, arriving just in time to stop Zabuza from unleashing the blade. He pushed everyone out the way before impaling Zabuza in the stomach. But something seemed wrong. Instead of blood, water poured out.

Zabuza appeared behind him mid-swing "Die!" he shouted before he cut the copycat ninja in half. Zabuza's eyes widened as "Kakashi" revealed to be just a water clone. "A water clone! He copied me through the mist!"

"Don't move" Kakashi said putting a kunai by Zabuza's throat. "Now it's over"

Zabuza merely laughed, "your technique is nothing but an imitation, I'll never be defeated by a copycat like you. Though I admit, I am surprised that you managed to copy my water clone jutsu while still making your speech. But it's not like you are the first one to do it." He said, thinking about the many times Naruto did the same trick with many different entries and follow ups in their team spars. Zabuza appeared behind the copycat ninja "and I'm not that easy to fool."

Kakashi's eyes widened before he sliced his kunai across the throat of the Zabuza in front of him. His suspicions were only confirmed when Zabuza only exploded in a shower of water. The sharingan user's danger senses warned him of oncoming danger. Trusting his honed instincts he ducked just in time to avoid being decapitated by the large blade.

Zabuza smirked. He swung his blade down and using its momentum, he jumped over and kicked Kakashi into the lake before dashing after him. Before he took more than a step Zabuza saw black dots on the ground. "Traps!" his eyes widened before he smirked. "Good try in slowing me down, but not good enough." He thought as he simply jumped over and into the lake.

"Sensei!" the genin cried.

Finally the Leaf jonin surfaced from the lake. " _This water. It's dense. Too dense_ " he thought.

"Fool. **Water style: water prison jutsu** " Zabuza called behind him.

Kakashi barely had enough time to react before he was trapped inside a sphere of water. " _No_!" he thought in alarm. " _It was a rookie mistake to escape into the water"_ he snarled to himself before looking towards Zabuza.

"This prison may be made of water, but its stronger than steel" Zabuza chuckled. "Can't do anything now can you? So much for the great Kakashi Hatake. I'll finish you off later- I will get a decent amount from your head." 'And it would make a good gift for when I get back to the rebellion.' He added in his head. "But for now, it's time for the bridge builder to die! **Water clone jutsu**!" instantly a clone of his rose out of the lake.

"You may think that just by wearing a headband makes you a ninja. When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't faze you, then you may be called a ninja." He said. "When you've become so deadly, your profile has entered into my Bingo book, then you may have earned the title "ninja". But to call brats and fangirls ninja, Leaf's standards must have fallen from the times of the Yellow Flash and White Fang." He continued before disappearing in a burst of speed.

"He disappeared!" the pink haired girl cried before Zabuza appeared behind her and kicked her 5 meters away. "Weak" he snarled.

"Sakura!" Ami cried in alarm.

"You're just brats" he continued, stepping on her fallen headband.

Kakashi looked on in horror from the water prison "Get the bridge builder and run!" he shouted "he can't move while keeping me in the prison and the water clone can't go far from him! If you get away, he can't follow!"

"Run away? No way! Uchiha don't run!" Sasuke snarled " **fire style: fireball jutsu** " he said as he breathed a ball of fire twice his size towards Zabuza and Kakashi.

"hmm, so your brat is willing to hit you if it means to damage me? Too bad that won't work" Zabuza said casually as the water clone moved to intercept.

"tch" the Uchiha frowned. The clone was destroyed, but it served its purpose in stopping the fireball.

"I won't let you try that again" Zabuza said " **water clone jutsu** " like before clones formed from the water of the lake, but unlike before, there were nine as opposed to the one. Sasuke looked at the clones before closing his eyes.

" _in, out, in, out_ " he counted his breaths as his hand slowly crept towards his weapon pouch. " _Just like in training…_ " his eyes snapped open and he flung the 5 shuriken in his hands towards the clones. 2 found their mark while others simply bounced off the clones' large blades. Undeterred, he grabbed more in each hand and flung them towards the clones again, but this time, he used the shuriken in his right to ricochet the shuriken to different targets, successfully managing to surprise five of the clones.

Zabuza looked on in slight amusement at the show of shuriken and just slightly tilted his head to the side to avoid one that flew towards him. He never saw the smirk on the Uchiha's face. "Now!" Sasuke screamed to himself as he pulled the wire attached to the shuriken and sending it towards Zabuza from behind.

The rouge shinobi snarled as he was forced to release the water prison or risk having a shuriken in his arm. His clones were about to move to recapture the Leaf jonin when the fangirls decided to interfere through the only way they could- by making a noise. "Go Sasuke!"

"You're so cool!" And just as what happened to the shadow clones earlier on, Zabuza's water clones dispelled through the pitch of their screech.

"Now I know what Naruto and Fu meant when they said the fangirl's screech dispelled their clones. I didn't even know human voices could reach such a high pitch!" Zabuza grumbled but was forced out of his thoughts by Kakashi.

"It's time to end this Zabuza." He said rising from the water, his gravity defying hair drooping from the water of the prison that trapped him.

"It is" Zabuza agreed before starting to weave a long chain of handseals which the copy nin promptly,well... copied.

"Ox, Monkey, Rabbit, Rat, Boar, Bird, Ox, Horse, Bird, Rat, Tiger, Dog, Tiger, Snake, Ox, Ram, Snake, Boar, Ram, Rat, Dragon, Monkey, Bird, Dragon, Bird, Ox, Horse, Ram, Tiger, Snake, Rat, Monkey, Rabbit, Boar, Dragon, Ram, Rat, Ox, Monkey, Bird, Dragon, Rat, Boar, Bird" they chanted in unison. " **Water style: water dragon jutsu!** " simultaneously two dragons with yellow glowing eyes made of water emerged from the lake and battled for dominance. But in the end they were evenly matched and cancelled each other out.

Both jonin dashed towards each other and ensured a sword on kunai battle. "How! How is a copycat like you able to match my water dragon!" Zabuza raged.

Kakashi sweated. Zabuza's rage sped up and enhanced all his blows and cracks started to appear on the copycat's kunai. " _Soon I won't be able to keep up with his speed!_ " Kakashi realized, the battle and use of the Sharingan taking its toll on him. With this in mind Kakashi looked Zabuza in the eye with his Sharingan and planted a small reaction delay genjutsu and jumped away.

With his rage, Zabuza never noticed the difference. "I'll end this now!" he shouted and started another sequence of complex handseals which again Kakashi mimicked.

But due to the genjutsu Kakashi placed, Zabuza was a second too late. And in the ninja world, a second was all that was needed. " **Water style: water vortex jutsu!** " Kakashi announced just as Zabuza was about to make the last seal.

"No!" he shouted as the vortex descended on him, washing him away and slamming him against multiple trees. His last thoughts before he felt two needles enter his neck was 'I grew too careless' before he blacked out.

* * *

AN: Yeah, half of this was greatly inspired from the canon fight ^.^ll.

Largest chapter I have ever written!

Wow! Ladies and gentlemen! With the last chapter, we have officially hit 109 reviews! A huge milestone for me! Thank you all!

Now, without further ado…

The winner (well only one person suggested so far…) for this chapter's title is…. (Drumroll) MiseryWolf97! (Loud applause) Well done!

Of course this doesn't mean you don't have a chance to enter! Now that you've seen the chapter, you have the chance to come up with a better name!

* * *

Reviews:

Guest: thanks, I usually update once a week, sometimes I won't be able to update, occasionally I update twice

MiseryWolf97: well done!

Hikari Nova: *snickers* I thought so too, so here's another!

Noahendless: thanks for the suggestions and the compliment.

BlackDragonShinigami: thank you *bows* I try =D Well here's the next chap!

Comethazel: thank you! I will! (ps. I figured about as much)

DragoFae24: don't sweat it! thanks, though I do believe I'm not the first to do them working together. I did take a lot of liberty with Zabuza's backstory since as you have said, it was never really elaborated on. I tried my best to make it seem believable- glad to see it worked =D. Here's the next chap!

GoodOldInstinct: hehe, yup!

DarkEzra: thanks, I will!

CGpyro: thanks. Random thought… is it even possible to laugh seriously?

Lostxinxthexdarkness: I'm not going to reveal too much except… was I really that obvious in some of the things that I may had planned? Anyways here's the next chapter and thanks for the vote of confidence!

Jacklvmage12: I'm sure you already know the answers of those challenges by now so I'll just skip them (if not, they're in the chapter after the one I posted). Now, in order- soo is you point he couldn't or could run for an hour? If not, keep in mind he is very fit from being in constant battle because of Orochimaru. I'm sure over 3 years (don't forget shadow clones) of teamwork training would make them pretty much in tune with each other. Yes, Fu is the holder of Chomei* still in this story. And finally, I checked out your story and left a review with what I think. Feel free to PM me if you want more help with stuff and I'll see what I can do. (I forgot to say this, but ZV is on fanfiction leave so he probably won't have time to take a look at your story.)


	20. hell hath no fury like a fem-boy scorned

Chapter 19

Hell hath no fury like a fem-boy scorned

* * *

Team Zabuza watched as their leader chuckle before jumping off. "It's times like this that I wonder if he's lost it" Haku muttered, "I mean, who in their right mind likes to fight opponents that can kill them?" With that question in the air, the rest of team Zabuza jumped after him.

* * *

They stopped just far enough to be out of the average sensor's range but close enough to rush in if need be. "Now we wait" Naruto sighed. "Even though this happens at least 8 times a month, it's just as boring as the last each time"

The rest of the team nodded before making themselves comfortable. It was standard procedure for their team in this scenario. Wait while Zabuza has fun until he is done or needs backup.

During this time Haku and Fu entertained themselves with a game of tick-tack-toe while Naruto picked up a reasonably sturdy stick from the ground, jumped up and balanced on it before closing his eyes and reviewed what happened in the past 3 and a half years.

" _Let's see what I've done…_ " he mused " _ran away from Orochimaru- check. Met Haku and Zabuza, check. Studied under Mifune-sensei in the Land of Iron- check. Started on the infinite one sword style- double check. Hmm, speaking of which, this seems to be reasonably easy, nothing like what I had imagined_ " He mentally counted. Before he could go on any further, he was pulled into his mindscape by the Demon Fox.

* * *

"Hey Fox" Naruto greeted.

" **Naruto** " he greeted back. " **you are progressing quite well in the fourth stage** " he said "you have pretty much mastered balance seeing that you are still balanced without even concentrating on it" he noticed.

Naruto puffed out his chest "of course, I'm just that awesome!"

" **HA! As if! The only reason you are doing so well is due to your clones and that the first 3 stages tie in quite well with your little shinobi training** " he laughed " **but soon it will start splitting. The next part is accuracy. You must hone it to the point where you can throw anything from a pebble to the katana into a bull's-eye around 30 meters away**." He said, enjoying the look of shock on the blond's face.

"30 meters! That's crazy aim!" Naruto shouted incredulously before calming down and looking at the Fox with a determined face, "but I'll do it. just like I did everything up to this point"

" **hmm, we'll see. For now, I believe it's time for you to go** " And with that happy goodbye, Naruto was kicked out of his own mind.

Just in time to feel a spike of chakra.

* * *

Naruto hopped down from the stick without looking at his other two teammates. "Well, I suppose it's time to go." he mused while stretching out a few stiff muscles and joints from staying still so long. "Well? What are you waiting for?" Naruto asked finally turning around after getting a particularly satisfying pop in his neck.

"He's looking for his bunny… again" Fu explained while Haku was looking around frantically.

"I bet Zabuza-sen-" Naruto started but was cut off.

"I bet Zabuza-sensei took him!" Haku interrupted with wide eyes. "He's going to use Mr Fluffles as a diversion!" he started hyperventilating "Mr Fluffles shouldn't be near a Jonin battle! He could be caught in the crossfire!" Naruto and Fu looked at each other, then at the panicking Haku.

"I'm going to kill him!" Haku said with a mad gleam in his eyes "I'm coming Mr Fluffles!" he cried before dashing off towards the fight.

Naruto and Fu sighed "he is always like this when he doesn't see his bunny…"

* * *

Arriving at the battle, the trio saw Zabuza and Kakashi jump away from each other before starting a long string of handseals. "Those seals… Zabuza-sensei must be near his limit" Naruto muttered "he doesn't bring that jutsu out unless the fight's about to end."

His thoughts were proven right as moments later a large vortex of water was formed, but to the group's surprise, it was from Kakashi instead of Zabuza like they had thought. "Wow, the copy nin actually finished the jutsu faster than sensei!" Fu remarked.

"Come on, let's get him out of this mess" Haku muttered, though he was clearly still angry about his bunny. They each looked at each other to ensure they had the right mask on. While this happened, Naruto spotted Haku's bunny on the bank of the lake and silently made a shadow clone to retrieve it.

Haku spotted Kakashi nearing Zabuza's near unconscious body and decided that he was going to be in danger if the copy nin got any closer. He threw 3 senbon needles that punctured the Demon's neck in precise pressure points to put him in a false-death state.

Team Zabuza body-flickered to the top of the trees around that of which their sensei lied. "Thank you for weakening him for us. We've been tracking him for some time." Haku said in a perfect act of emotionless. "Now if you will excuse us, we have a missing-nin to take care of" Haku said, allowing a little anger to show.

" _Must be because of something Zabuza did to him personally, possibly killing a close friend or family_ " Kakashi thought before walking forward and placing his fingers on Zabuza's neck. "He's dead" he declared, pulling his headband down to cover his Sharingan and stood up. "He's all yours" he smiled, though the only indication was the upwards curling of his exposed eye.

The teens disguised as Mist hunter-nin jumped down from their respective trees as Kakashi walked away. Haku draped Zabuza's left arm around himself while Naruto did the same to his right. Fu grabbed his sword from where it had fallen and just as they came, they left in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Kakashi watched the masked hunter-nin leave out the corner of his eye as he walked back towards his team. "Well done, all of you" he eye-smiled. "Now, take care of Tazuna for the next day or so while I sleep" he said before falling over in chakra exhaustion.

* * *

Kakashi woke up on a mattress inside an unfamiliar room. He stared blankly up at the ceiling. "this must be Tazuna's house" he thought before trying to get up but failing miserably and only managing to hang off the mattress. He was about to try get back up but stopped when he heard the door open to reveal his pink haired genin. "Kakashi-sensei!" she shouted running over. "Are you ok?"

He smiled in a reassuring way, "Yeah, just a mild case of chakra exhaustion" he said "I should be up by dinner."

"Alright Sensei, I'll go tell Tsunami" she said before getting up and walking out the door, leaving Kakashi alone again.

He sighed and stared back up at the ceiling and went over his fight with the Demon of the Mist. "I'm getting out of shape" he mused. "It was a good thing those hunter-nin came and took… his… body." His eyes widened. He wasn't a hunter-nin but even he knew the standard procedure from his time in ANBU. Kakashi tried to get up again but due to his body still exhausted he fell unconscious again.

* * *

At dinner time, Tsunami noticed Kakashi still wasn't down and went up to call him. She woke him up and helped him down the stairs into the dining room. "Sorry to be a bother" he muttered.

"Nonsense! You saved my father, this is nothing" she replied.

Kakashi sighed as he reached the dinner table, "I'm afraid that he will be back"

The whole table looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean Sensei? That Zabuza guy is dead! You said so yourself!" Ami pointed out.

"I'm afraid not. The hunter-nin used senbon needles. Though it is possible to kill with them, it's very hard and you have to hit a vital artery or organ to do it. That hunter-nin only pierced the neck and likely put him in a false-death state. It's not impossible to do with enough knowledge on the human pressure points." He explained. "Those hunter-nin were likely all accomplices of his"

"So what now Sensei? You don't look like you in any shape to fight him again and we aren't near strong enough to do it ourselves." Sakura trembled.

"Don't worry, I should be back to full strength in about a week, which is coincidentally around the same time as him. Putting a person in a false death state is quite harmful and the person would need time to recover- not to mention the damage I dealt to him. But just in case-" Kakashi bit his thumb and went through a few handseals "- **summoning jutsu** "

A small orange pug wearing a Leaf headband and a blue cape appeared. " **Yo!** " he greeted holding up a paw.

"So cute!" Tsunami squealed when she saw a talking pug appear in her house and quickly ran to hug the life out of it. Looking at Tazuna with sparkling eyes she asked "Can we keep him?"

The bridge builder sweatdropped "I'm pretty sure that's Kakashi's dog Tsunami, and I'm pretty sure it's going to die in the next minute if you don't let go"

Tsunami looked down at the pug whose fur was somehow turning from orange to purple at an alarming rate and quickly let go. "Sorry" she mumbled embarrassed.

Kakashi cleared his throat "Pakkun, what did Lord Hokage say" he asked in a serious tone.

" **He said that he's going to be sending back up, but he can only manage a genin team** " the dog replied.

"Alright, dismissed." Kakashi nodded while the pug disappeared with a wave and a puff of smoke. Kakashi took a second to gather his thoughts when a single line stood out.

" _But to call brats and fangirls ninja, Leaf's standards must have fallen from the times of the Yellow Flash and White Fang._ " That's what Zabuza had said.

" _Zabuza was right back then. The Leaf has fallen from those times_." Kakashi down at his sandals, the food on the table all but forgotten. " _It had never recovered from the nine-tails attack. With the loss of the Sanin, Orochimaru being declared a missing-nin, Tsunade being on leave indefinitely and Jiraiya barely ever being in the village, then to top it off, the Fourth Hokage was killed while many buildings were destroyed and not to mention the near complete extinction of the Uchiha clan. The village is at an all-time low. In military strength, finance and moral. If any of the other major villages attacked now, we would be completely wiped out._ " Kakashi thought. " _Having even a single spare genin team as back up is rare and we should count ourselves lucky_ " With that happy thought, he sat down and ate the quickly cooling meal.

* * *

It was 3 days later when Tsunami went into the village to buy more food with Sakura and Ami tagging along to "protect" her, from what nobody knew but just let them tag along to keep their screeching to a minimum. "And Sasuke is so handsome…"

"And he is so good at everything…"

"And he is so perfect in every way…" Tsunami tried to hold her irritation off her face as she listened to the girls compliment the Uchiha without any signs of stopping.

" _How did it come to this_ " she mentally wept. It all started out with her asking about their life in Leaf, but somehow it ended up as the two lost in their world of endless compliments of the Uchiha. " _I need a distraction or I'm going to go crazy!_ " Luckily for her the distraction came in the form of a loud boy with a dog on his head.

"I'm telling you Shino, we are in the right place! The scent of Sakura and Ami are close!" he declared confidentially to the boy that was almost completely concealed in his high collared jacket. Hearing their names, Sakura and Ami snapped out of their own world of Sasuke Uchiha and looked at the boy who mentioned them.

"Kiba?" they both asked in surprise.

Seemingly hearing them he looked in their direction "See I told you" he boasted before walking towards the group.

Tsunami looked at the new arrivals. First was the loud boy who was apparently called Kiba, then the high collared boy called Shino, followed by a shy girl with a large jacket and milky white eyes that made Tsunami wonder whether she was blind and lastly was a woman with ruby red eyes and a dress that looked like it was made of bandages. Each wore a Leaf forehead protectors like Sakura and Ami except for the white eyed girl who hung it around her neck.

The woman took noticed of her and greeted the daughter of the bridge builder. "Hello. My name is Kurenai Yuhi, these are my students. Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and his partner Akamaru." She introduced, pointing to each student respectively while the dog barked. "We are the backup sent by Lord Hokage. Would you be so kind as to show us to Kakashi Hatake?" she requested.

Tsunami bowed "I am Tsunami, the daughter of Tazuna. Come with me, Kakashi is currently resting in our house." She said before walking back towards her house, leaving the others to follow her. While her back was turned Tsunami cried silent tears and sent a silent thanks to whatever deity that stopped the endless compliments of the Uchiha. " _I would have gone crazy if I heard another thing about that Uchiha!_ "

Unknown to the group, a blond-haired, whiskered child listened in on their conversation " _It appears that the Leaf sent backup. Got to warn Zabuza-sensei_ " he thought before disappearing.

* * *

Haku was out picking some herbs to help speed up Zabuza's recovery when he saw a passed out figure lying in a clearing. The figure had dark hair and wore a dark blue shirt with white pants. Haku recognized him as one of the Leaf ninja and debated on whether he should kill him and avoid trouble later one (oh if only he knew) and reached his hand out towards the Leaf ninja's throat. At the last second he decided against it and instead shook him awake. "Hey, you going to catch a cold if you sleep out here like this" he said.

The Uchiha slowly opened his eyes to see Haku. "And who are you?" he asked.

Haku gave a kind smile, "I'm just someone collecting herbs for a friend. Judging by your headband, you must be a shinobi?" he asked and pretended to be amazed.

"Hn, as if! I'm not mere shinobi! I am an Uchiha!" he boasted.

"Oh my! An Uchiha!" Haku faked a gasp while trying to hold back his sarcasm. "you must be really strong then!"

"Of course!" Sasuke folded his arms "all Uchiha are naturally above the other ninja."

Haku was really trying to hold back from rolling his eyes now. "I see, tell me, do you have any precious people?" he asked, hoping there was something good in this kid.

"Precious people?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, I believe that a person only truly strong when they have a precious person, someone they fight for." Haku nodded.

"As if!" he snorted, "I don't need things like feelings getting in my way. I can only be strong through hatred."

Haku looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe one day you will think differently." He got up and prepared to leave.

"Oi Sasuke! Kakashi-sensei asked me to tell you it's dinner time. Oh, hi miss!" Kiba said running into the clearing "Sorry to disturb you"

Haku smiled, he could already tell this boy had precious people and would become a great shinobi one day. "It's no problem. I was just leaving." He said.

Once he got the edge of the clearing, he turned his head back and said "And for the record, I'm a boy." Haku walked on back towards Gato's mansion, smiling as he heard the anguished screams of denial. It was always fun to do that.

* * *

 **(well that's the end of chapter 19, now my Christmas gift to everyone!)**

* * *

(omake brought to you by Jman22056)

Zabuza looked down to his three students. "I'm going to meet a contact for our next mission. Might be back in a few hours, if not keep watch until I do." He shifted a small bag of supplies.

Their current camp was deep in a forest a little over two hours from the nearest town at ninja speed. This was to ensure they were far enough away that the town wouldn't be disturbed from their training. It would be really annoying to get away from ninja every time they trained after all. However even being this far from civilization there was always the chance another group of missing-nin could come across them. It had happened once before.

"Naruto you're in charge" Zabuza stated before turning around.

Glancing back slightly he said, "I've already set up some traps in case someone gets too close to camp. I also set a small clearing up for you three to train in. I expect you three to do your normal training while I'm gone."

"Yes Zabuza-sensei!" All three youngsters shouted to their teacher. With a nod Zabuza disappeared from their sight.

Naruto smiled evily. "Let's go train!" Haku and Fu looked to Naruto when he made his declaration and both paled slightly.

Naruto's grin that he had on was one that they rarely saw, usually only when Zabuza was gone. That smile meant that today when they trained with Naruto, he was going to go full out. With the fact that he had more stamina than both Fu and Haku together meant that they were going to be exhausted by the end of the session.

"Ummm, Naruto," Haku started to think of some way to get of training with Naruto. His eyes scanned over the camp and saw their scrolls that they had food sealed in. "I forgot to prepare food! I better start now so we don't have to fight on an empty stomach after you both finished training." Haku quickly got out hoping he would buy it.

Haku slowly started to walk backwards to the edge of the field. During of which Fu slowly came to realize what Haku was doing. He was going to leave her alone to train with Naruto! "Haku-!" Before she could speak another word Haku dashed from the camp, leaving the scrolls for the food on the ground.

"Hmmm, odd, oh well." Naruto turned to Fu and gave her the horrid grin again. "Looks like it's just us Fu." Fu could feel the blood rush out of her face. This was going to be a long day. "I'm going to kill him!"

* * *

Fu was laying on the ground on her back, her chest moving up and down rapidly was she was trying to catch her breath. Naruto was only a few feet away from her. The only reason he was standing was that fact that he was using his sword as a crutch. Both were covered in thick layers of mud and sweat.

The small clearing that Zabuza left untrapped was now completely changed. Once it had been a nice small clearing that one would have enjoyed having a picnic with their loved ones. With flat ground and very thick grass making an almost natural blanket for people to lie on. The trees had been formed in such a way where one was surrounded by trees but not to the point of making one weary of someone could hide in the outcropping.

That was before Naruto and Fu started to train. Now most of the grass had been torn up from numerous jutsu leaving thick layers of mud thanks to the massive amounts of water both Naruto and Fu used. The trees now had deep gashes along the trunks thanks to Naruto's dodged sword strikes.

"That… was… a… good… train... ing…. session…You've.. gotten.. strong… er..." Naruto couldn't help but pant in between his words. Usually he didn't get this tired but Fu appeared to have been secretly holding back and getting more stamina, almost matching him, or getting really good at wearing him down. Possibly a combination of the two.

The only response he got from the mint haired girl was a glare. She was obviously too tired to go anything but that. Naruto seeing the glare couldn't help to start laughing. This caused him to start to cough and drop his sword.

With the sudden loss of support, Naruto fell to the ground in a small splash of brown goop. Naruto looked to Fu with disbelief. Suddenly the two of them start to grin and both of them broke down into laughter.

After a few seconds both of them calmed down and started up into the bright afternoon sky. The silence between them calming both of their rapidly beating hearts. The heat of the sun and the breeze of the wind giving them the perfect combination of cooling their bodies but not chilling them. Lulling Fu to sleep.

"Hey Fu." Naruto's voice rang out to Fu, breaking her out of the lull. She tried to lean up slightly but her body was still too worn out.

"What is it Naruto?" She heard shuffling come from Naruto and turned her head as much as she could to see what the sound was. What she saw was Naruto holding something in his clenched fist.

He started to struggle to get up and after a few tries was successful. He slowly limped his way to her. When Naruto finally got to her he held out his closed hand to her. "Here." Naruto looked away from her to hide his blush.

Fu tried to move to see what was in his hand and was finally able to get to her feet with a lot of effort. She went and grabbed whatever was in Naruto's hand and felt two smooth objects enter her hand.

She looked at the objects and saw it was two small butterfly earrings she looked up to Naruto to see him looking away. "Naruto, what is this?" She saw him rub the back of his head as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"Well it's a pair of earrings."

"Why?" Fu looked at the two bronze earrings. Both were in the shape of generic butterflies. It lacked some details, such as tiny markings on its wings. And now that she was able to run her hands across the edge of the wings of the butterfly she could feel the smooth but uneven edge.

Her main concern was why he had gotten her something like this. He didn't make something like this, it would require material and tools that they didn't have. Which meant that he had spent money on it. And that made her chest feel a little tighter.

Money for the three youngsters was a rare thing. Most of the time any money they got usually went to Zabuza to get supplies for the group, but once in a while they got small sums to get anything they wanted. Had Naruto spent his money on something for her?

"Well, you see," Fu could easy see Naruto was nervous. Which if it wasn't for the situation they were in right now she would enjoy seeing him trying to think of what to say without messing up. She could see the gears in his head working at full capacity. "You're the first person that I've ever met that's like me. And I saw the earrings and it just…. Reminded me of you." Naruto started to rub the back of his head again. "I know it's a stupid reason but…"

"I like it." Fu didn't know what possessed her to say that but she did. Though it wasn't a lie. She really did like the earrings. Though whether it was because it was a pair earrings in the shape of bugs or because it was from Naruto she couldn't figure out.

She wanted to put the earrings on but knew she couldn't as she didn't have her ears pierced. Next time they were in a town she would have to check on how much money and time wise it took. Though even just looking at the tiny bronze bugs her confidence started to grow.

With an internal nod to herself Fu directly into Naruto's eyes, a ferocity flooding her eyes. "Naruto," Her voice made Naruto flinch lightly, so small that if she wasn't so close to him she probably would have missed it. "I want you to have this."

Fu reached into her own ninja pouch and grabbed the smooth circular object she had in there. She pulled it out and held it out of Naruto to take. Naruto took the object into his hand and looked at it.

It was a small wooden token like object. There was a small hole in the top of it with a thick cord looped through it, making it into a necklace. The backside of the wooden token was completely blank, though it was extremely smooth. Naruto flipped the token over and saw the kanji for friend carved on the front.

Looking closely at the kanji it was easy to tell- even for Naruto- that it was carved out with a kunai. Small little scratches showing where Fu accidentally forced the kunai too far or places where the carving was slightly deeper than the other cuts.

However, none of that really matter to Naruto. The only thing that was going through his mind was the fact that he had gotten a gift. It wasn't something he wanted to think about but the thought came on its own.

Never before had Naruto ever gotten a gift from someone, much less something that was made like this. In fact maybe it was the fact that Fu had taken time to carve out that single kanji on the wood that made such a deep impression on his mind.

Without any wanting of his own tears slowly started to flow from his eyes. Fu saw this and started to worry. Was her gift not good enough? Was he expecting something more? After all he did spend money on his and she only grabbed a piece of wood and started to smooth and carve it.

"Thank you Fu." The words that Naruto spoke comforted her but the way he said it sounded like he was… hurt? "Thank you so much." Before she could say or react Naruto hugged her. Her body screamed out in protest from her sore muscles but she ignored it. "This is the first gift someone's ever given me."

Fu's eyes widened at the declaration. She never even thought about it. Naruto gave her her first gift to. Never did she think that she would actually receive a gift and all notions of anything like this dissipated from her thoughts to the point where even getting a gift she just accepted without really thinking about it.

Fu closed her arms around Naruto and started to hug him back. Tears now flowing from her eyes as well. "You… you gave me my first ever gift too." The two of them stayed hugging each other for almost another minute.

Slowly Naruto pulled away from Fu. He wiped the tear stains from his face with his sleeve and smiled to Fu. "Come on Fu, let's go get cleaned up." He started to walk away back to the camp. Seeing Naruto walking away like that something in Fu's chest swelled up. Her mouth started to move before her brain could catch up.

"Naruto, are we always going to be together?" Naruto froze in place. Fu's face started to burn as her mind finally caught up to her mouth. She didn't mean to make her words sound so… attached… She went to correct herself but Naruto voice stopped her.

"Of course." Her heart nearly stopped. She watched, with his back still towards her, slip the necklace round his neck. Suddenly he turned around, one of the purest smiles she had ever seen. "It's a promise of a lifetime."

* * *

AN: I take back what I said about chapter 18. _This_ is the largest chapter ever written (close to double my average word count- including the omake). Just felt right ya know? Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah and anything else anyone is celebrating!

* * *

Reviews:

Guest: here ya go.

BlackDragonShinigami: Haha, I know how hard it is to find good fics. You can take a look at my profile, every single story I have favorited is a good read.

lostxinxthexdarkness: yes the idea of a Jonin being defeated (even if it was only his clones) through a genin's screech is extremely amusing. As for the other part, I do feel like this direction suits me best considering that I would probably suck at writing such a dark fic (being a fan of humor myself) and it just doesn't seem right for anyone to come out of such trauma with everything being sunshine and rainbows. As for more of the darkness being shown in the war- that's a given, but it won't be the last "dark" part of this fic (hint, hint).

comethazel: i hope i won't disappoint

Hikari Nova: that would be great fun yes, even if they won't be using tailed beast cloak against the Leaf since they don't really know it well enough.

Noahendless: aye captain!

thor94: can't argue against that

Jacklvmage12: thank you. i believe that a few days is a little too much for a 9 year old... even if he did have the Kyubi.

Zeus501: well, they would only know Naruto as the enemy (never meeting him before and whatnot) and as for him learning the rasengan, that's still being debated.

MiseryWolf97: lol, here you go.

Saint of vice koncor: well that was entirely unplanned and coincidental (i didn't even see it until you pointed it out) so no, Samui won't be part of his little merry group. i believe that you made an error in saying "Sakura's death"? Cause i'm pretty sure I made it clear she didn't die. As for the chunin exams, sorry to disappoint, but I don't plan for them to attend this one.


	21. Begin! battle of the bridge!

Chapter 20

Begin! Battle of the Bridge!

* * *

 _They had attacked without warning. Killing dozens before anyone could react._

 _He stared at her, blood leaving from her chest and staining the grass red. Then he looked at the killer. A young boy- close to his age- with his back turned towards him, blade flashing as he cut down more of his comrades. The sounds of the battle faded away. His heart thumped in his chest. The boy turned towards him, revealing a face that was almost fully covered by a mask and a red eye with spinning commas around the pupil._

* * *

Zabuza snapped his eyes open and immediately took stock of his surroundings. The room was almost bare if not for the bed he was lying on and a chair next to it, the only other furniture was a table by the wall opposite his bed. His eyes took notice of his sword propped up against the same wall. Good. A trusted weapon to use if he was in hostile territory. He focused inside and reached for his chakra. It heeded as soon as it was called and had no abnormalities or foreign chakra.

Now confident that everything was in order, he relaxed and went over his memories before stopping at a certain point. " _I was careless. To be caught by a simple genjutsu_ " he berated himself. Then, thinking again, he remembered his dream and his loss by the hand of an enemy- which usually gave him a thrill and a reason to improve to beat the enemy- now fanned his flames of hatred and anger. " _I never thought I would see him again! That bastard will pay!_ " He was snapped out his thoughts by the opening of the door.

"Sensei" Fu greeted while holding a tray of tea "you're awake"

Zabuza nodded and raised a non-existent eyebrow, "you don't seem surprised." He mused before schooling his features, "Report"

The mint-haired Jinchuriki set down the tray on the table before turning towards him. "As planned, we interfered under the disguise of hunter-nin once it proved that you had lost. The Leaf shinobi didn't suspect a thing. We didn't engage because even if he was extremely weakened, the copy-nin would still likely have defeated us, especially if we had to defend your body as well."

Zabuza nodded, agreeing with their decision, "what of Naruto and Haku now?"

"Naruto has gone into town to scout and Haku into a forest nearby to collect herbs to speed up your recovery. Both are expected to be back soon." Just then, the door opened again to reveal Naruto and Haku.

"Sensei" they both greeted "you're awake"

Zabuza nodded then paused. "You planned this didn't you?" he deadpanned looking at Fu.

Fu looked at the bed-ridden demon with big innocent eyes "Me? You wound me sensei!" she exclaimed with her hand over her heart.

Naruto and Haku snorted as they tried to hold back their laughter. Even Zabuza couldn't help but let a smile stretch over his face. "Over-dramatic as always Fu."

Fu took a bow, a smile on her own lips "you know what they say, a smile a day keeps the big bad shinobi away" Finally they couldn't hold it back anymore and the whole room descended into laughter. Finally the laughter subsided, with only a few chuckles remaining.

"So, what did you find?" Zabuza asked.

Naruto started, "I went scouting in town for more information and to see if we could launch a quick assassination while the copy-nin is still recovering and came across reinforcements. Another Leaf team. Also 1 jonin, 3 genin. However this jonin doesn't seem to be much of a threat, average build, normal jonin-level chakra reserves, no visible signs of any weaponship and I've never seen her in any of the Bingo books. Her name was Kurenai Yuhi. However I do believe the genin had some potential, maybe better than the copy-nin's team. From what I heard and saw, there was an Aburame, Inuzuka and a Hyuga- unmarked."

Zabuza was surprised. It wasn't often a Hyuga from the main branch was sent on such a mission. "Good. Haku?"

"I scouted the woods not far from here. I found some herbs that would speed up your recovery and the Uchiha. I was unable to dispose of him so instead I tried to gather some intel. The Uchiha is driven by revenge and will be easy to anger. I suspect the Leaf teams, and by proxy the bridge builder are in the area."

"Good work, all of you. Once I am fully healed, our next move will be to attack the bridge builder, head on. I will take on the copy-nin. Naruto, you have the jonin. Haku, you will take on those genin. Now don't give me that look, I know that genin are no match for you but I'm sure you will have a nice stretch with 4 genin and 2 fangirls. Test yourself against 2 of the world's strongest eyes. Fu, you will be on standby. Help who you deem necessary, if no one needs it- have some fun with the other genin. You are more of a support anyways."

The trio nodded, though Haku and Fu a bit reluctantly. Of course they would get over it, the team always took turns on fighting whoever was deemed the 'biggest threat' after Zabuza took his pick. They just got the short end of the straw this time. "Dissmissed" And with that command, the room was emptied except for the demon. " _I will get you Hatake. Even if I die in the act_ " Zabuza thought before falling back asleep.

* * *

A week later

Zabuza strapped his sword to his back. It's been a week and he had fully recovered. He stretched a bit to ensure he still had full mobility before leaving to meet up with his team. They headed out to the bridge and saw that it was nearly completed. "That's one big bridge" Naruto remarked behind his blank mask. "But I don't think it will host 2 jonin level battles."

Zabuza nodded "yes. That's why I will fight Kakashi at the bottom" he pointed to a spot not far from the bridge. He didn't want the bridge to accidentally collapse and kill his charges after all.

"And those builders?" Haku pointed out, "do we kill them?"

Zabuza shook his head "no, our mission is to kill Tazuna and Tazuna only. Putting them in a false death will do. Besides, after a few drop 'dead' most of the others will run away anyways" Haku was relieved. He didn't want meaningless deaths. It went against his heart.

" **Ice style: ice needles** " he muttered as he summoned senbon made of ice from the mist. No need to waste weapons after all. He crept behind some crates and took aim before throwing the senbon at the same pressure points he did on Zabuza a week ago. As expected, most of the workers panicked and fled as soon as the body count went to 10 without any sign of stopping.

Just as Haku threw the needles at the last worker, he heard the unmistakable sound of the fangirls. "… I mean, it's not like they would _dare_ attack the bridge with _Sasuke_ here"

Haku groaned as he hid in the mist and made his way back to his team. Those fangirls were still stuck in the illusion of the world being all sunshine and rainbows where the Uchiha will rescue them from trouble. They will never survive long in the real world.

* * *

Team 7 and most of team 8 (Kiba was still at Tsunami's house. They wouldn't put it past Gato to use underhand tactics after all) arrived at the bridge. The unnaturally thick mist was their first clue that something was amiss. The second came in the form of the many bodies on the ground. "Everyone. On your guard. He's here." Kakashi commanded. "Genin, protect Tazuna. Kurenai, with me" Everyone fell in place. The slight sense of foreboding was a large motivation to get them moving.

The mist cleared slightly to reveal the fully recovered swordsman and 3 others standing slightly behind him. One was wearing a black shirt and cargo pants of the same color. One was wearing the standard hunter-nin uniform of the Mist and the last one- clearly a girl- was wearing a revealing outfit with a short white top that ended above her belly with a hint of mesh underneath. She also wore a white apron and mesh was poking out from that too. Another distinguishing feature of note was the large cylindrical object strapped to her back. The straps crossing over her chest to further pronounce her assets. The only similarity they held was the blank mask on their faces.

The fangirls stared at the girl's chest before looking back at their own in shame.

"Well, Hatake. Looks like we meet again. And it appears you brought a friend" Zabuza drawled.

" _Is it just me or does he seem… angrier? Did his loss anger him that much?_ " Kakashi wondered. "Zabuza. It appeared that I miscalculated last time. It won't happen again."

Zabuza gave a barking laugh "Ha. Last time you fooled me with that little genjutsu. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Kakashi nodded. It seemed this fight will not be as easy as he hoped. Zabuza glanced at Naruto. "Let's get this party started"

Naruto nodded. " **Water clone jutsu** " he murmured. The Leaf teams instantly got on guard as 20 clones appeared. Whoever this masked guy was, he had insane reserves, easily over Zabuza's. The jonin could tell that much from the spike of chakra.

Kakashi dashed, trying to take him out quickly. His dash was cut short by a large blade that almost cleaved him in half. Zabuza grinned behind his bandages, "your fight is with me Hatake" he said before spitting the last word out.

Kakashi jumped back out of range of the sword. "Very well." He nodded before dodging a kunai from one of the masked nin's water clone. "But your friend here doesn't seem to agree" he noted before stabbing the clone.

"Naruto, stand down." Zabuza commanded. "Excuse him, let's fight below the bridge. This way there will be no interferences." He offered.

Kakashi paused. On one hand, that would remove their number advantage and he wouldn't have to watch his back every two seconds, but on the other, that would leave him more vulnerable to Zabuza's water jutsu. Finally he decided that the need not to watch his back outweighed the advantage of Zabuza's element. Distractions were very costly, especially in a jonin battle.

"Very well" he said before jumping off the bridge.

Zabuza grinned " _phase 1, success. Now it's up to you Naruto, Haku, Fu_." He thought before jumping off himself.

* * *

Naruto watched as the two jonin jumped off the bridge before focusing his full attention on the remaining jonin. Kurenai raised an eyebrow at the 20 masks that turned to her. "Sorry kid, but you're a little too young for me" she said.

Naruto just grinned behind his mask, "We'll see" he said before the clones attacked.

* * *

Haku waited until he deemed that Naruto had taken the other jonin far and occupied enough for her to not be able to interfere before making his way to the bridge builder. Fu, seeing that sitting around would do her no good and that both Naruto and Zabuza were doing just fine, followed him. They walked at a steady pace towards the tense genin before Sasuke- being the arrogant Uchiha he was- decided that he was strong enough to challenge them both.

He charged towards the two masked-nin with his kunai out. Fu scoffed as Haku dashed in front and met him halfway with his own. She continued her walk uninterrupted while the two battled it out. She stopped in front of the small group that now consisted of a bridge builder, 2 fangirls, a Hyuga and an Aburame.

The group watched the masked-nin. The fangirls were still confident that their precious Sasuke would come and save them. The Hyuga… was unreadable. Fu blinked. She didn't think she would meet an opponent she couldn't read, not this young anyways. Finally she turned to the Aburame who looked conflicted.

She sighed. The Hyuga was a no-go because she was Haku's opponent, the fangirls weren't even worth the effort to challenge and the Aburame looked like he was frozen. With a raised eyebrow she deduced that it must have been because of his bugs. Even in her seal, the seven-tails was still a being to be feared and it was probably woven into the instincts of the insects to never challenge it.

She gave a pitying look to the Aburame behind her mask. He must have a huge headache from all the warnings the insects were giving off. Just as she was about to turn around and head back to the crates, Fu sensed another presence approaching. "Good, this won't be a waste of time" she thought, turning to where the new arrival would land. "Sorry we're late, we got held up" the new arrival said.

"Yeah right looser! You were just sleeping"

"Yeah Kiba! Stop trying to act cool like Sasuke"

Fu rolled her eyes. Stupid fangirls didn't even see that he showed signs of just coming out of battle.

"Kiba Inuzuka, correct?" Fu asked.

Kiba blinked, "Yeah, that's me" he replied before looking back at the group, "Hey! Who's the hot chick in the mask?" he shouted.

"She's the enemy you idiot!" the pink-haired fangirl shouted.

"Enemy! You mean I have to fight her?" he asked incredulously but still slipped into a stance and reached into his hood to pull out… a dog.

Fu resisted the urge to face-palm. That looked like something he picked up from a circus. "My name is Fu." She introduced before slipping into a stance of her own.

"This is Akamaru" he said pointing at the dog he pulled out, "he's my partner."

Fu nodded "nice to meet you Akamaru"

Kiba wore a grin. Hot and she acknowledged Akamaru. It couldn't get better than this. "What do you say we go on a date after this?" he asked

Fu cocked her head to the side. "Should you really ask that with your partner next to you?"

"T-that's not what I meant!" Kiba stammered, waving his hands defensively.

Fu shrugged while hiding her grin behind her mask "if you say so" she said in a sing-song voice before dashing towards him.

* * *

AN: yeah the fights are underway. Kakashi vs Zabuza. Naruto vs Kurenai. Haku vs Sasuke and Fu vs Kiba. Next chapter we will see how everything will play out!

Just reminding everyone that the naming challenge is still on. If you have a better name for the story or chapter and it will be taken into consideration.

Besides that, happy new year! Just wondering, did anyone fall for the hoax of Chuck Norris on Friday?

* * *

Reviews:

Hikari Nova: thank you for pointing that out. It has been fixed.

My 2 guys: here's another

Thor94: thanks, I'll tell Jman too.

BlackDragonShinigami: alright. Yup a little NaruXFu fluff for Christmas.

MiseryWolf97: that's right. And I'll tell Jman too.

Noahendless: keeping it up!


	22. showdown at the bridge

Chapter 21

Showdown at the bridge

A battle between elite Jonin is the perfect example of the difference between "normal" and "elite". Actions and reactions separated by mere split seconds. Jutsu casted within moments notice. No action was useless. No chakra was wasted. A deadly dance where a single slip would mean death.

Such was a battle between the Demon of the Mist and the Copy-nin.

As soon as Zabuza jumped off the bridge to join his Leaf opponent, He lifted his sword to block a quick attack. They separated and clashed again. Sword against kunai.

 **"** **Water style: glimmering water chains"** Zabuza said, holding the tiger seal.

Kakashi showed an impressive acrobatic ability in dodging the chains that came up from underneath him and parrying the spiked tips away in those he couldn't dodge in time.

 **"** **lighting style: thunder birds"** he said while weaving some hand seals in mid-air, upside down.

Instantly his hands were encased in lightning. He cocked his hands back and threw them forward. Bright sparks flew from his hands and flew in the direction of the chains. Some pierced through the chains and stopped the Jutsu and preventing Zabuza from taking advantage of his position. Others headed straight for Zabuza, forcing him to abandon his Jutsu and jump away.

As he jumped, he threw some kunai through the Jutsu and towards Kakashi.

This had two effects.

The first was the kunai, being made of metal, thus, attracting the lighting towards it and conducted it and stopped the Jutsu from following him.

The second was the kunai, now charged with lighting headed towards Kakashi. Essentially turning his Jutsu against him.

Kakashi was too busy dodging the kunai to notice Zabuza was behind him.

 **"** **water style: water prison Jutsu"**

Xxxx

Kurenai was frustrated. This brat, who couldn't have been older than her genin, was keeping her on her toes. Sure, she was a Jonin, but the kid didn't seem to care. Her genjutsu would have possibly given her the advantage by distorting his senses, but those clones weren't giving her any chances to weave any hand seals. They weren't that hard to beat, a simple hit would be enough, but they never seemed to end! The quantity over quality was winning here.

Finally, she jumped away from the mass of clones and landed on top of some building crates that hadn't been opened yet. "I admit, you're pretty good- for a kid." She said, slightly out of breath. She scanned the crowed of clones, all in stances prepared to attack or defend. "but, now I'll show you why I'm called the Genjutsu Mistress back in the Leaf" she said, racing through hand seals. **"genjutsu: burning hell"** she said before starting another set. **"genjutsu: false surroundings"**

She smirked as the clones' battle stances faltered before bursting into water and completely drenching that part of the bridge. Leaving only one laying on the ground.

The Leaf Jonin jumped down on the ground, ignoring the loud splash of water. "now, time to end this" she said, pulling out a kunai.

Kurenai walked to the downed form of Naruto. "I commend you on a good battle" she said before thrusting down.

The kunai pierced his head and his life liquid gushed out. Only one problem. It was water.

Kurenai barely had time to be surprised before she was bonded by chains.

"I commend you on a good battle" Naruto said, quoting her words, "but you made 2 crucial mistakes." He held up a finger, "the first, was assuming that I would let down my guard when fighting a Jonin." He said before holding up another "the second, is stepping into water even when you know I am in league with Zabuza-sensei."

Kurenai's eyes widened. _"this kid trained under Zabuza!"_ she thought. _"no wonder he is so good!"_

"now, to get you out the battle. I want to see the end of that Copy-nin" Naruto said, unsealing his sword.

Kurenai barely had time to admire the masterful carvings on the sheath before the sword was drawn and headed for her head. She flinched out of reflex and the sharp pain in her head was the last thing she knew before dropping.

Naruto sighed before resealing his sword. He had changed the trajectory of the sword at the last second and instead knocked her unconscious.

"Well, let's see how sensei is doing"

Xxxx

Haku was disappointed. From all the stories he had heard of the Uchiha clan and from _this_ Uchiha's boasting he had expected an epic battle. Of course he was still a pacifist and preferred not to kill, but that didn't mean he didn't like a good battle.

"Stop running and fight me!" Sasuke screamed as Haku dodged another punch.

"You're blind" Haku said as he struck a nerve that rendered that arm limp.

Sasuke glared as he tried to get back feeling in his arm. As an Uchiha, being called blind was one of the worst insults he could get.

"I grow bored of this. I hope the Hyuga will be a better opponent. Haku said, readying a senbon that will paralyse him and be easier to knock him out.

Sasuke clenched his fists. Another insult that hit a nerve.

"Shut up! **Fire style: grand fireball jutsu!"** Sasuke screamed, finally getting feeling back in his arm.

Haku sighed. "is this the best you can do?" he asked, dodging the fireball.

"How dare yo-" Sasuke started but was suddenly stopped when Haku punched him in the solar plexus.

"Yes, yes, you are an Uchiha, you are the strongest, whatever" he said rolling his eyes before chopping him in the neck, hitting the vagus nerve. "Now go to sleep"

The Uchiha slumped to the ground, knocked out.

"Hyuga, your turn" Haku called, turning to the group guarding the bridge builder.

Hinata squeaked. She wasn't expecting to be called out like that. She wasn't anything special. Just average in just about everything. _"of course"_ she mentally added _"it was probably because I'm a Hyuga"_ she correctly guessed.

Shino stepped in front of her. "go wake up Sasuke. This masked-nin is not to be taken lightly. He easily took out our rookie of the year. Our chances would increase should we all work together."

Hinata nodded and raced off to wake him up.

Shino held out his arms. "allow me to be your opponent."

Haku gave a small bow. "Shino Aburame, correct? I am Haku Yuki. Pleased to meet you."

Shino gave a small nod of his own, "correct, please to meet you too." He said before letting the bugs out his coat. The bugs swarmed Haku, aiming to drain his chakra.

 **"** **Coming of winter"** Haku said, releasing a pulse of chakra that froze the nearby water and caused all the bugs to drop out the air.

"You'll have to do better than that"

Shino sweated. Almost all of his techniques wouldn't work. As soon as his bugs gets close enough, Haku would freeze it. _"However,"_ he though, glancing to the side where Hinata was trying to wake the Uchiha up " _I don't need to win. Just stall enough time."_ He looked back at Haku. The Aburame reached into his pouch. Even though he mainly used bugs, that didn't mean he couldn't use ninja tools.

He threw out a handful of kunai and shuriken. His aim wasn't the best, nor was he expecting for them to hit, but he hoped they would be enough distraction for Haku not to be able to mould chakra and freeze the bugs that followed.

Haku simply formed an ice mirror to block whatever shuriken was headed to hit him. He knew the Aburame weren't stupid and correctly guessed that the tools were a distraction. However he didn't plan for the distraction to be taken advantage of by a third party.

His head snapped to the side and his body followed. The ice mirror shattering as soon as he lost concentration.

Haku looked back. The Uchiha was back and he was weaving hand seals for a fireball. Haku grabbed a senbon out his pouch and threw it at the Uchiha, hitting his hand and preventing him from activating his jutsu. He rolled to the side to avoid a kunai with a paper bomb attached and used the momentum from the roll to stand up.

Hinata took advantage of him being off balance and went to disable his arm. Haku quickly rotated and used his palm to guide the deadly fingers past his body. He jumped back and weaved some hand seals. **"ice style: ice gauntlets"**

Hinata recovered from her stumble and aimed to hit Haku's back. She blinked when she made contact, but instead of the fabric she expected, she was met with what seemed to be a strong glove made of ice. She quickly disengaged to reassess the situation. Feeling a coldness in her fingers, she looked down in surprise. Her fingers that she used to hit Haku were turning blue.

Haku smirked. "I designed these gauntlets to spread my ice chakra into anything I touch. I can speed up the process by adding more chakra. A few seconds of touching this and your fingers will fall off from frostbite."

"you can't freeze anyone if you're toast! **Fire style: grand fireball jutsu** " Sasuke shouted and breathed a large fireball.

A mirror formed in front of Haku, "Enough. **Demonic mirroring ice crystals."**

Out of the mist, 21 thin blocks of ice formed around the team. Haku stepped into the mirror closest to him. "in here, my speed is 5 times faster. You have lost." He said.

The entire group was enveloped in a bright flash. Out of every mirror came dozens of senbon. The force of the senbon threw Sasuke and Hinata back. Shino dispersed, revealing that it was an insect clone the whole time.

Haku threw another wave of senbon. Again, the force threw them back. This time Hinata activated her Byakugan. "He's in that mirror" she said, pointing at a mirror just above them.

Sasuke spat out a fireball at the mirror she pointed.

Haku jumped out, just because his mirrors were able to withstand the fireball didn't mean he liked being in it when it hit.

He saw a light coming towards him out the corner of his eye and quickly ducked into another mirror to avoid being burned. When he looked back, he saw the eyes of the Uchiha had changed.

He had awoken his sharingan.

Haku narrowed his eyes. Now that he had awoken his sharingan, Haku knew that the Uchiha just became a bigger threat and that if the battle was prolonged, the Uchiha would get stronger.

The time for playing around was over.

 **"** **Water style: water trumpet. Water style: glimmering water chains."** He said, firing off two jutsu one after the other. The water chains were more of Naruto's jutsu, but he couldn't train with Naruto for 3 years and not learn anything. The first jutsu was to drench Sasuke and make water around him. The water chains then formed around Sasuke, binding him and sticking their sharp tips into the bridge.

Haku threw another senbon at the Uchiha, aiming to take him out, but it was stopped by Hinata who deflected it with a kunai. He dashed out his mirror and kicked her across the area of the mirrors before turning to the Uchiha. "I congratulate you on awakening your bloodline, now go to sleep" he said before sticking a senbon he formed out of ice into his neck.

Haku turned around to see Hinata about to disable his chakra with her gentle fist. He ducked and weaved her strikes before knocking her back with an uppercut. He panted from the short exchange and frowned. _"I know I haven't exactly been chakra friendly but I should still have at least half my reserves left"_ he thought. It was then that he noticed the faint footsteps of insects on his body. " _of course, The Aburame and his chakra eating bugs."_

Haku let his ice mirrors drop while he sent a quick pulse of ice chakra, freezing all the bugs on his body. Spotting the bug user, he made some hand seals. **"water style: water cage. Ice style: frost winds"**

Unlike its prison counterpart, the water cage was not filled with water. It was simply a cage made of water pillars with an extremely dense roof made of water.

Frost winds was an original jutsu that Haku based off his other one, coming of winter. While that jutsu freezes objects with Haku as the origin, frost winds is an extremely cold wind that flash freezes anything it touches. The water cage wasn't really needed, but the Aburame were known to be extremely smart and it wouldn't be hard to believe that he would be able to escape. The cage was just an extra insurance.

He looked around. Sasuke was in false-death. Shino was frozen in a block of ice and Hinata looked to be unconscious. He nodded at his work before jumping off to joining Naruto in watching the Jonin battle.

Xxxx

Kiba was a tricky opponent. Even though he relied much on brute strength and had little finesse, the fact was that there weren't many people who had something she couldn't dodge to an acceptable extent. Out of all 5 senses, eyesight was the most used. Fu's fighting style relied on hitting quick and hard. For opponents who were fast, she blocked them then countered. For opponents who hit hard, she dodged. For opponents like Kiba, she would use both. Blinding them then dodging and attacking. However, Kiba wasn't like the others. Firstly, he had a dog who could apparently talk to him and warn him of danger and/or attack her to buy him time to recover. Secondly, he relied on smell as much as sight. And thirdly, he used a drill-like attack. This meant that any defence she put up wouldn't last very long. She was stuck against one of the worst opponents she could have. A near perfect counter to her style.

Of course, that didn't mean she didn't have any advantages. First and foremost, she had experience. From what she had seen, he had just entered the academy when she graduated and only graduated recently. Secondly, he seemed a bit reluctant to hit her. Whether this was because of his upbringing or something else, she didn't know or care. Any advantage was welcome in a shinobi battle. And finally, an advantage she liked exploiting in him, the fact he had reached puberty and was easily flustered.

Fu dodged another drill and turned around to see him panting. Not much of a surprise there. His technique seemed to use chakra and since he is only genin, he didn't have enough in his reserves to use it too many times.

"Are you tired already? That must be disappointing for your _partner_ " Fu said, smirking behind her mask.

"oh, come on! Would you let it go already?" Kiba complained. "you know I didn't mean in that way!"

Fu laughed, "if you say so. Just wondering, just how does your partnership with Akamaru work? Are you like in business and he only tells you to watch out, or is there more?" Fu asked.

Kiba smirked, "We Inuzuka don't do business with our dogs, we train them and care for them. They are our partners for life. We eat, train, sleep and battle together."

Fu raised an eyebrow behind her mask, "they are your partners for life? You do everything together? Sounds like marriage to me."

"Oh come on! How many times do I have to tell you! It's not that kind of relationship!" Kiba whined.

"Yeah, yeah. So how _do_ you battle with him?" Fu asked. "I imagine that there is a more effective way to battle with a dog."

Kiba reached into his pouch, "let me show you"

Fu watched in interest as he pulled a pill out his pouch.

"Akamaru, catch!"

The white puppy jumped and caught the pill in its mouth before biting down. Within moments its fur turned form snow white to a rust red.

"Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba crouched, his hands touching the bridge. The red dog jumped and landed on his back **"Man- beast clone"**

A poof of smoke later, there stood two feral Kiba's crouched on top of each other.

"ok, so through transformation, he is now the same species, but aren't you a little young to do that?" Fu asked.

The bottom Kiba collapsed, causing the other to tumble down on top of him, dispelling the transformation. "come on!"

Fu took the opportunity while he was distracted to disappear and appear behind him and knock him out with the butt of her kunai. "alright, I've had enough fun." She said before looking at the growling Akamaru. "relax, I'm not going to kill him" she said with a roll of her eyes.

This seemed to satisfy the dog who then laid down. Fu smiled and sat next to him and started petting him

Xxxx

Zabuza looked at the captured Kakashi in front of him. "Now, stay still. I'm just going to dismember you. I think that I'll finish you off with a stab to the heart. It's the only fitting end for you after all." He said.

Another Zabuza appeared next to him "let's get started"

Just as he was about to swing his sword, the Kakashi in the prison turned to water.

"as you said, "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."" Kakashi said, quoting Zabuza's words from earlier.

Zabuza growled. "Just die!" he screamed, swinging his sword with all his might.

Once again, Kakashi turned to water. And another Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza.

"I've been wondering, you seem angrier than you should be. Almost as if you have a grudge against me. Any particular reason why? I'm sure your defeat earlier can't be the reason."

Zabuza gritted his teeth. "I don't expect you to remember. It has been 15 years. Does the day where I gained my nickname ring a bell?"

Kakashi thought for a moment, _"15_ _years, the war_ _had reached a standstill. It appears that I killed one of his friends or someone close to him. Ah yes, I remember now. It was a year after Obito died._ _Lord Third gave me an important S-ranked mission. It was to check up on unusual activity by the Mist Boarder. We encountered the Mist Shinobi and engaged. Kagemi died and I went on a killing spree because I failed to save another friend. I was stopped by a Mist Shinobi who did the same. When I was stopped, 10 Mist and 6 Leaf Shinobi were left. Hikari, Sumaru and Menma sacrificed themselves so Hayate,_ _Gai_ _and I could escape and report."_

Zabuza watched as realization dawned on Kakashi's face. "I see you remember. Now die and pay for your crimes!" he roared.

Kakashi jumped back before dashing in and locking blades with Zabuza. "You weren't the only one who lost someone that day! Kagemi was a dear friend of mine but you don't see me driven by revenge! People die in war! It's inavoidable!"

Zabuza sighed. He had always known that but never truly acknowledged it. Always burying it and ignoring his voice of reason.

"you're right, but that doesn't change the fact that we are on opposite sides of a mission now. You to protect and me to assassinate. That doesn't change."

Kakashi nodded. "It doesn't"

Zabuza glanced out the corner of his eye to see Naruto sitting on the side of the bridge. "Well, it appears the other Jonin is down for the count" Zabuza mused. Suddenly he was struck with a thought, _"well that's ironic. The fact that the son of his sensei is on a different side to him and he doesn't know it. Ah poor Kakashi"_ Zabuza grinned behind his bandages.

The Jonin clashed again.

"You know that Gato is likely to betray you, right?" Kakashi grunted out.

"It doesn't matter. Even if he tries to catch me off guard, I'll just cleave him in half." Zabuza growled before they broke away again.

They both started on a long chain of hand seals. And just like their last battle, two dragons with glowing eyes and bodies of water rose from the lake and battled for dominance. Again, they proved to be equal and cancelled each other out.

Both Jonin panted. The battle had been long and taken its toll on them.

Suddenly, Zabuza smirked "and that makes two." He said.

It took a moment for Kakashi to understand, but when he did, his eyes widened. He looked to where the masked ninja Zabuza called Naruto, and sure enough, another masked figure had joined him in sitting on the side and observing the battle.

"Haku, take out the target."

Kakashi cursed when he saw the new figure jump away. He had no chance of stopping him. Even if he could manage to get away from Zabuza, Naruto would still get in the way and delay him long enough to Zabuza to catch up. His best hope was to take down Zabuza as fast as he could.

He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a scroll. He wiped some blood from a wound he got from Zabuza sometime in the battle and opening the scroll, he wiped the blood along the paper of the scroll before closing it and slamming it on the ground. **"Summoning:** **Earth style: tracking fang** **"**

The ground underneath them rumbled for a second before four dogs burst out and bit Zabuz's arms and legs, effectively immobilizing him.

He sighed and stood up before making another three hand seals. "be honoured, you will fall before my only original jutsu." He said, clutching his right hand. **"chidori"**

Zabuza watched in amazement. The lightning chakra was so concentrated, it was visible!

Just as Kakashi was about to dash towards Zabuza, he heard a scream that he recognized as Sakura's. He closed his eyes and let the jutsu fade. "It's over. I'm too late."

Zabuza sighed as the dogs disappeared in a poof of smoke. _"that was a close one."_ He thought and looked at Kakashi. "My mission is complete and yours has failed. Let's go back up and stop the fighting" he said _"more like my students beating up yours"_ he mentally added.

They jumped onto the bridge with a chakra enhanced leap and came upon a look of mass destruction. On one side, the bridge was flooded where Kurenai laid unconscious. On the other, Shino was trapped and frozen in a block of ice, Hinata was struggling to her feet and Sasuke was lying on the ground a few feet away. Close to the edge of the bridge, Tazuna's body lay between Sakura and Ami. Sakura looked on in shock while Ami was trying to shake him awake, apparently in denial.

"Hey Zabuza-sensei" Fu greeted from her seat. Unlike the others, she opted not to go and watch the Jonin battle and instead sat near the unconscious Kiba and petted Akamaru.

"I guess we not killing the copy-nin then?" Naruto asked, landing next to her.

"Of course not, can't you see sensei is standing next to him and _not attacking him_?" Haku asked, joining the group.

Before Naruto could have a chance to retort, a slow clapping was heard. "Well done Zabuza."

AN: yup, extremely long chapter. I wanted to wrap up the fights and just couldn't find a good place to stop after starting so don't expect chapters this long for the next few months- or until the next big fight.

I know I said that I would reveal Naruto's sharingan this chapter, but it appears that I was delayed. It _will_ be revealed next chapter. That is set in stone... along with some other stuff… maybe I should start doing the same as some other authors and build a reader-proof bunk… and keep all the cats in there so _someone_ (looks at Zeus501) would stop threatening them…

I'm starting school again in about 2 weeks from now, so after that I _might_ skip some update weeks. I _will_ do my best to keep up the "chapter per week" thing, but just in case life decides that I have too much free time…

I'm sure there was something else I wanted to say, but I can't seem to remember.

Reviews:

Noahendless: thanks a bunch!

Hikari Nova: ha, yeah, she is the "ice queen of the leaf" after all. And we both know the civilian council has too much power, no matter which fanfiction we read (unless it's those that have Danzo overtaking as Hokage or super strict Hiruzen that abolish it and rule with an iron fist). Well, prodigies like Itachi and Kakashi are rare (even though the Leaf was pumping them out like throwing candy) so it wasn't too farfetched to believe that the chances of encountering another was low, especially one that didn't come from a hidden village. And I also think that she made a huge mistake in neglecting the other shinobi arts. The only possible reason for her to even be jonin is that she was another "prodigy" in genjutsu. Besides that, I think that the rank suits her. We can admit she is slightly above special jonin (cause I'm reasonably sure she can beat Anko in a fight…) but nowhere near elite jonin. To me, to be elite jonin is to specialize in a field but still keep the other fields at an acceptable level (like Kakashi) or specialize in a field enough to cover the weakness not having the others would bring (Gai).

Zeus501: ehehehehe… I got plaaaans *smirks evily* that don't include Gaara dying… yet… also Kakashi wouldn't recognize Naruto because 1) he has never seen him before (remember Naruto was abducted as soon as he was born), so no whiskers won't help him at all, and 2) he hasn't removed his mask yet (in this chapter anyways).

NoaTheYaoiVampire: glad you enjoyed it.

BlackDragonShinigami: don't you think that's a _little_ too extreme? ^.^ll

AnbuDragon90: I believe you misunderstood. In chapter 1, he saw _Haku_ who he _thought_ was a girl before passing out. Go back and read it carefully, you will see that he met the "girl" _before_ he passed out and I _did_ mention that Naruto had seen Kyubi before that day.

Thor94: eh, it's the world of ninja, missing nin gotta do whatever they can to earn money. And to Zabuza, he only cares about Mist, and this mission helped Mist financially (however small) and that was all he cared about.

Effectivesage: well.. Zabuza _was_ already a Mist ninja… but yeah, the other 3 will be Mist ninja soon.

AndiDuel: in a few chapters (maybe 5)


	23. Sensei's pride

Chapter 22

Sensei's pride.

xxxx

Everyone still conscious looked at the midget who was surrounded by bandits holding various weapons.

"Gato" Zabuza replied "I have completed what you asked, now where's the money?"

"It's right here. 50,000,000 Ryo. As promised." Gato replied, pointing to a bandit bolding a briefcase.

Zabuza started forward.

"Be careful sensei. It's likely he will try pull something." Naruto said, "I have a bad feeling about this"

The Demon nodded. "Of course. Then I'll just cleave him in half."

He continued his way forward. The bandits parted to make way for him to go through.

xxxx

Naruto tensed, the feeling in his gut growing stronger. He looked carefully at every single bandit, none of them seemed to show any hostile intentions.

Then

" _There!"_ Naruto thought. One of the bandits' appearance seemed to waver for a second as Zabuza passed him and reached Gato. The new appearance clearly showed a shinobi, his hand about to draw a sword.

"SENSEI!" he shouted in warning.

Xxx

Zabuza held his hand out and received the money. "Nice doing the business with you." He said.

Gato closed his eyes behind his glasses. "You know, nobody threatens me and gets away." He said, referring to when they first met.

Before he could ponder the meaning of those words, he heard Naruto's shout. He turned around just in time to see Naruto running towards him and another shinobi who thrusted his sword at him.

Xxxxx

Naruto dashed forward, even though he knew that he wouldn't make it in time. As the sword was about to reach Zabuza, the world snapped to perfect clarity. He could see each individual scratch and carves on the sword and each arc of lightning that went off it. Time seemed to slow down and Naruto could only watch in slow motion as the sword entered through Zabuza and out the other side.

Xxxx

Pain wasn't anything new to Zabuza. But the lighting sword through the lung was.

He glared down at his attacker. Aoi Rokusho, missing nin from the Leaf. What a coincidence. He grabbed his sword off his back and swung it down as hard has he could in his weakened state. Aoi jumped away, pulling the sword with him. The sword hit the concrete. As did Aoi's other arm.

Both missing nin let out a loud cry. Aoi of pain, and Zabuza, a war cry.

Zabuza heaved his blade up and once more swung it down. Aoi barely had time to bring his own sword up to block.

The two blades collided and time stopped for a moment before lightning raced up the conductive metal of Zabuza's blade and electrocuted him.

Finally the injuries he had sustained that day caught up to him and he dropped his sword before stumbling a few steps and falling himself.

Gato smirked, "looks like your bark is worse than your bite "demon". Kill him"

Aoi got up, even though he blocked it, the momentum of Zabuza's sword still knocked him to the ground. He lifted the Sword of the Thunder God and was about to swing it when he heard a shout and his arm detached from his body. He stumbled back in shock, the handle of the blade clutched in his hand lying on the bridge, the sword itself deactivated.

Aoi stared into the blue eyes, each with a single tome around the center. As a former Leaf nin, he knew. That was the sharingan. Only, it wasn't blue.

Xxxxx

Naruto had reached the first bandit. He unsealed his sword and swung it, decapitating him, only when he had killed the 4th one, did they notice him. Still he continued to carve out a path to Zabuza. He was only faintly aware that Haku and Fu had joined him. Each swing of his sword took off a head or a limb. Each retaliation was seen and avoided. It was almost as if he could see what they would do before they did it.

Then there was a flash of light, Naruto looked just in time to see Zabuza drop. That moment of distraction almost costed him. Another bandit had snuck up on him and swung his sword. The sword headed for his head, but he noticed just in time that the sword only nicked him. Before the bandit could take advantage of him being off balance, he was dead. He dropped to reveal that he had an ice senbon stuck at the back of his head, and the area around it was freezing over.

Naruto nodded his thanks to Haku, ignoring the iced face. He had only ever seen that side of Haku once before, and he had never wanted to again. This was the Haku that was just as, if not more, ruthless as Zabuza. The one that killed without regard for his actions.

Naruto looked back to where Zabuza was. He saw Aoi raise his sword and in a burst of speed, executed the first move he learned under Mifune. " **one-slash"**

He landed in front of Zabuza and glared at the now armless Aoi.

Haku and Fu arrived a second later. The three was now standing protectively around Zabuza's body. Haku took a chakra pill, he wasn't like Fu or Naruto, and he had a fight with an Aburame so most of his chakra was gone.

His chakra replenished, he looked around. They were surrounded. He weaved a few hand signs " **coming of winter"** he said, though in his angered state, he released a little more chakra than usual. Within moments, all the bandits were frozen ice sculptures. He had made sure that the ice didn't reach Team Zabuza, Aoi or Gato.

Fu slowly walked towards Aoi, leaking off Killing intent in waves.

"S-s-stay back!" Aoi cried, feeling true fear for the first time in a long time.

Fu looked at Zabuza, then at the hand that held the Sword of the Thunder God at her feet. She picked it up. **"Hidden Mist jutsu"** she whispered. The mist that had been evaporated by the battle and sun came back thicker than ever. The last Aoi saw of her were her eyes. Those eyes that bore hatred more than he had ever felt.

"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys and heart. Each will kill you within moments" Fu's voice echoed.

Aoi's eyes darted around, hoping to find a clue to where she was.

"But that is enough time for me" Fu's voice snapped into perfect clarity before he felt the sword pierce his liver. The lightning numbed the pain for a moment before the lungs were pierced, first the right, then the left.

Before long, he dropped to the ground, dead. Fu staring at his body without emotion as the mist faded away.

The group snapped their heads to where they heard feet moving. Gato was trying to run away.

Haku took out two senbon and threw them. The senbon flew straight and true, hitting their marks.

Gato stumbled and fell as the tendons in his legs were cut. "w-wait! I'll give you anything! Land! Power! Money! I'll pay you double what I was going to! Triple!" he cried, waving his hands around.

Haku looked at him before remembering Zabuza's earlier words.

 _"_ _"_ _Be careful sensei. It's likely he will try pull something." Naruto said, "I have a bad feeling about this"_

 _The Demon nodded. "Of course. Then I'll just cleave him in half.""_

Haku grabbed Zabuza's sword and in an impressive show of strength, pulled it out the ground in one moment. He dragged the sword across the bridge, the sword making a horrendous screeching noise and leaving a long scratch across the bridge as it was dragged.

"How about…" Haku started.

"Yes, yes! Anything!" Gato cried, seeing a way to negotiate his way out of it.

"…your death" Haku shouted, heaving the blade and slamming it down.

Gato barely had time to look up in fear before the butcher blade came down and cleaved him down the middle.

The conscious Leaf nin could now see. They had no chance to win since the beginning. The genin trembled in fear, they could have died without even touching any of them. Somehow that made their loss a little easier to accept. A loss was better than death after all.

Haku quickly ran back to where Zabuza's body was and checked for a pulse. He found it, but it was faint and judging by the amount of blood he lost, not to mention his wounds, he would be dead in minutes.

He lifted his head and looked his teammates in their eyes before slowly shaking his head. "he won't make it" he whispered.

All three of them knelt and let out silent tears for their fallen teacher.

A slight wheeze brought their attention back to him. "You did well." He said.

"Sensei!" the trio cried "don't talk, save your strength!"

Zabuza gave a small smile "no need. Even I know I'm not going to make it" he coughed "take the scroll in my left pants pocket. Inside is the rendezvous point with the Mist rebels. Go to Ryu and show him the scroll. He knows where it is. Be there at midday exactly a week from now." he coughed again. "Fu, take the Sword of the Thunder God. It will be useful." Fu nodded and tightened her hold on it. "Haku, my first student, I trust Kubikiribocho to you. You were always complaining that you were the only one who didn't use swords" he chuckled "take care of it. It will serve you well, maybe you can do what I failed with it and awaken it."

"I will" Haku promised.

"Finally Naruto, I admit, I didn't expect you to have the sharingan, but now that you do, remember it is only a tool. Don't rely on it too much or it will be your downfall." Naruto nodded, although surprised, he didn't even realize he had it even though it had been activated since Zabuza was stabbed. "I know you want to know about you parents, once you meet the rebels, ask for Mangetsu Hozuki, if he wasn't the one to meet you, I've told him everything in case something like this happens. He will answer all you questions." He coughed again, "there's not much more I can say, you have all exceeded my expectations. You are no longer my students, you are my children, my…equals. Stay true… to… each… other" and with that the Demon of the Mist took his last breath.

"Rest in peace, father, we will do you proud" Haku whispered while Naruto and Fu nodded in agreement as they picked him up. "We will cremate him. Nobody will disturb his rest." Haku said with finality and grabbed the sword. "Let's go"

And so the trio, along with Zabuza's body disappeared in a puff of smoke.

xxxxx

Kakashi lowered his head in respect for Zabuza. They may have been enemies, but he still held respect for him.

He turned back to Sakura and Ami, "the mission is a failure, go wake the others. We will rest and head back to the Leaf when we are all rested for travel." He commanded

The copy nin turned his attention away from the girls and to the bridge builder. He looked over him for the cause of his death, he had a report to write up after all. _"No swelling, no visible cuts"_ he checked, then he saw the neck _"slightly dripping with water and bits of blood. The sneaky kid must have disobeyed Zabuza's orders and only made it seem like he died. And because he didn't use the normal senbon, anyone else would have most likely never thought of the use of false death."_ Kakashi deduced and bent down to shake the bridge builder. "Wake up." He said.

Tazuna groaned and slowly opened his eyes, "am I dead?" he asked.

Kakashi gave a tired smile "no, count yourself lucky"

AN: pretty eventful chapter, Haku, Fu and Naruto show their sadistic side, Zabuza died, Fu and Haku gets a new sword, Naruto awakens his sharingan and Tazuna is alive (as most of you guessed) but as for whether Zabuza wanted that or not… well that's up for you to decide, it's open anyways- nothing points to whether he planned it or not.

Thanks for all your reviews last chapter, it had a bigger turnout than usual.

Reviews:

Zeus501: yeah… Tazuna ain't dead… you ain't gonna find that scenario here ^.^ll. I'LL JUST PUT A HUGE TON OF CATNIP IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT STOCKPILE! YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO EVEN REACH FOR ONE! MUAHAHAHA.

Oneoddtodd: thanks

Lostxinxthexdarkness: thanks and well… this happened next LOL

AnbuDragon90: yeah I admit it could have been a bit clearer there

Thor94: yeah… Kurenai was a genjutsu specialist, about average in everything else. So if you take away her genjutsu, she ain't got much and since Naruto is at least high Chunin and got numbers on his side, there wasn't much she could have done- well that's what I think anyways.

Talonsen: well that's a bit dark… I couldn't kill Tazuna because of the repercussions, for example, Wave is crippled, the only reason it could be going would be Gato, and that is only short term. Once it has become unlivable, then the residents would leave, and once that happens, Wave- which is an important trading port in the shinobi world- would collapse and cause a domino effect of affecting a lot of stuff that I can't keep track of and I would then have to write about surviving _that_ which would completely throw me off my original plan… am I sounding a little like Omoi here?

ViktornoveMk2: well Gato ain't exactly the most trustworthy guy around ya know…

BlackDragonShinigami: can't argue with ya there. \U,U/

RinneTaicho: thank you for your constructive criticism, I am always looking for ways to improve my writing so your suggestions _do_ matter and have been thought about.

That being said, I am aware that my chapters aren't very long (2-4k words is honestly nothing, I admit), but I _am_ slowly increasing the length. However, If I _do_ combine 3-4 chapters into one, then A) I would only be able to post 1 chap (2 max) per month and that wouldn't go well with the readers as they might lose interest (not to mention that there is a possibility that I could be forcing dialogue and/or plot in each chapter and decreasing the quality of the overall story).

I, myself do enjoy a long chapter but I've also seen authors that make a chapter too long and losing my attention and I don't want the same to happen to my readers.

I also have a collection of long books (heroes of Olympus and Magnus Chase if you're interested) that have many words per chapter and many chapters per book. Now I'm not entirely sure about the length of each chapter but I suspect it is between above average and long so I have an idea of just how short my chapters are. Of course, yes they have been carefully edited by possibly many people, but the majority of the words are still that of the author.

As for paying attention to the in's and out's, I'm probably not good at that :P most of my work is just me sitting here and typing what I want to happen and often asking "how would this work" or "how would he react" and putting it down, so that doesn't leave me paying much attention to them.

But as I said, your suggestions have been noted and I will try to use them. Feel free to continue to give suggestions

Noahendess: ehehehe ^.^ll well now you know :P

Jackvmage12: well, for the fights, keep in mind that Team Zabuza are at least high chunin- each. And they were fighting fresh genins (Except for Naruto) so there wasn't any need for clever or flashy techniques. For my reasoning on Naruto's fight look at my response to thor94.

Tazuna aint dead (as you guessed). And let's admit it, canon OP'd the rookie 12 too much. I mean, look at the Sasuke retrieval arc, Choji and Neji took down a Sound 4 member- by themselves. The entire sound 4 took down a squad of Jonin. That leads to each at least Jonin level themselves. It's basically saying that those rookie 12 members were jonin level at that time already.

And yes I have taken RinneTaicho's words into consideration. My explanation is in my response to him. (lol I'm too lazy to even copy and paste it here).

AndiDuel: thank you

Aurora Lopez: I did and like I said, Saturday or Sunday! =D


	24. the place of our fallen white lily

Chapter 23

The place of our fallen white lily

The trio left of team Zabuza stopped a little ways off Wave.

"This should be far enough" Naruto panted. The day's fight and emotional toll was tiring, even for someone like him.

Fu nodded and they both carefully laid Zabuza's body on the grass. Behind them, Haku dropped as well, his muscles screaming at him for holding such a heavy weight for such a long distance. _"Who knew sen- no father's blade weighed this much. No wonder he goes through his own personal training"_ Haku thought.

Fu sighed and sat on the ground, her back leaning against the tree with Naruto following her example. "We didn't think this through did we?" he remarked.

"What do you mean?" Haku asked, looking at him weirdly.

"I mean, firstly," Naruto started, holding up one finger, "we don't know any fire jutsu. We all water natured and never really had a need for a jutsu to cremate someone. And two, we are wasting energy. You," Naruto pointed at Haku, "are carrying a large, heavy blade, and we" Naruto motioned to Fu and himself, "are carrying a large, heavy body. With us just being out a fight, tired, in danger of threats like other missing nin or such, and without the help of Zabuza, we would need all the strength we need."

The other two paused. They weren't used to the smart Naruto, sure he came out at times, but those times are few and far in between. Though when he _did_ come out, he always pointed out they had missed.

"So, even if I really don't want to, we must act like proper hunter-nin," Naruto took out a scroll "and seal both his body and sword"

Fu gave out a weak laugh, "ironic ain't it? We've been posing as hunter-nin the whole time, taking Zabuza's "corpse", but now it's the real thing."

Naruto and Haku nodded in agreement, life had a sick sense of humor.

A few minutes later, Naruto and Fu sealed up Zabuza's body while Haku reluctantly sealed the sword.

"We head straight for the nearest town. We find an inn and stay there for the night. We head out, straight to Ryuunosuke" Haku said, taking command.

Xxxxx

On the morning of the third day, the group arrived on top of the hill and knocked on the weapon smith's door.

They only waited a few moments before the door opened. "Welcome back" he said before noticing the lack of an adult "where's Zabuza?"

The trio looked at each other

"He didn't make it" Naruto finally said, holding out a scroll.

The last remaining member of Zabuza's old team seemed to age a dozen years right before their eyes, "I'm all alone then" he muttered sadly.

Fu stepped forward "no, Zabuza's final words, he told us to give you this. He said you would know the location." She said, holding out a simple messenger scroll.

Ryuunosuke slowly took the scroll and untied the string. He unwrapped the scroll to see 10 simple words.

 _Let's start clearing the mist at the place of our fallen white lily_

Ryuunosuke gave a small smile "that sneaky Zabuza" he said, "Come in, let me pack up. We leave tomorrow." he said before walking back in the house.

"Let us help too. If we are done quicker, we can rest earlier and leave earlier. Zabuza said we had to be there at midday 4 days from now." Haku called out as they walked in.

Ryuunosuke stopped in mid-motion of packing away a well-crafted sword. "Well then this pace won't do. It will take almost 4 days to reach there from here. But we might just make it if we hurry and only stop for minimum rest. Alright, come with me." He said and headed to the back where team Zabuza had frequently trained when they were visiting. **"Metal style: metal clones. Earth style: earth hole jutsu. Metal style: metal river jutsu."**

Team Zabuza watched the display. No matter how many times they saw it, they were still amazed at the mastery and control the weaponsmith had of his jutsu. 30 clones appeared from blobs of metal he had spat followed by 60 perfect square holes, each about a meter long and wide appearing in the earth. Then the clones seemed to control the metal river to ensure the metal that flowed into the holes molded into the holes and leaving the middle and top empty. The end result was 60 crates made of metal that can be used to hold the weapons and other goods. The once flat field was now full of metal crates in the earth.

"Make as many clones as you can. Put the weapons into the crates to the right and the scrolls the crates in to the left. I will handle the records, pills and anything else left." Ryuunosuke ordered.

"Right!" the trio saluted " **shadow clone jutsu"** Naruto and Fu called. **"Water clone jutsu"** Haku called, not having the reserves of Jinchuriki like Naruto and Fu, instead he made up for it in chakra control.

Clones of the trio appeared in between the spaces of the metal boxes leading up the pathway to the house.

"Naruto, you and I will spread out throughout the house, you go through the left wing and I'll go to the right. We will have our clones form a chain leading to this point. Fu from here, you and your clones will intercept the stuff and pack them into boxes. We all know you are better at packing than us." Haku stated.

The Jinchuriki nodded. That was sound logic and neither of them had a problem with it.

"Let's do this!" Fu said, smirking and bringing her fist up.

Haku and Naruto nodded. "Scatter!" the shouted at the same time.

As planned, Naruto led his clones to the left side of the house while Haku did the right. The clones formed a conveyer belt of sorts and therefore minimizing the need for movement and the risk of colliding with another clone.

The point where the two groups met was a spot not far from the doorway. Fu had to create more clones to compensate for the double load, now her clones had formed their own web of transport with one standing on a tree barking out orders to which goes where.

About 3 hours in, Ryuunosuke walked past to what he thought to be training during war times.

"Number 25 pass to your left. Number 21 hurry up. Number 3 watch out behind you. Number 7 help number 36 with the battle axe…."

So on and so forth. The commands never stopped and neither did the rhythmic passing of Naruto and Haku's clones. _"Zabuza, you trained them well"_ the weaponsmith thought before continuing his way.

By midday, everything had been cleared into the field and packed neatly into the boxes.

"Phew, done. Now to call Ryuunosuke." Fu said, putting the final kunai in. "good work everyone. Dismissed." she called to the clones who saluted and dispersed into a large cloud of smoke.

The trio walked around the house, partly to check there was nothing they missed, and partly to find Ryuunosuke. They eventually found him kneeling by the grave he made for his other teammate, Shiro, with his head bowed.

They stood outside the door awkwardly, not sure what to do.

"is it done?" the weaponsmith asked, finally lifting his head and standing up.

"It is" Fu answered.

"Good, now all that's left is to seal it all." He said, grabbing a scroll they hadn't noticed leaning against the wall. "This is a special Higurashi scroll. It had been used since the time when the Higurashi were still nomadic people, dating even further back than the warring clans era. It can hold any amount of objects so long as the objects were made by a Higurashi. Back before we were separated, most families had a scroll like this." He explained while walking towards the field.

The trio looked in awe. As little of the sealing arts they knew, even a simple seal such as an exploding tag was complex and many _jonin_ didn't know how to make it. To have a sealing scroll that can hold an indefinite amount of objects, even if it was only for a specific clan, the seal maker must have had an incredible amount of sealing knowledge.

Arriving at the field, they watched how he was going to use it. They had expected him to slowly seal each box individually, but instead he just threw the scroll in the air. The scroll unraveled by itself and going around the field, covering the whole area taken by the boxes.

" **Seal!"** the metal user commanded, his hand in a half tiger sign.

There was a small puff of smoke, just enough to encompass the object, and it was gone. The scroll flying back into the Higurashi's waiting hand. "Let's go"

Once they were outside the gates of the house, Ryuunosuke turned around and took one last look at what had been his hiding place, his work, and his home for over a decade. " **Earth style: earth hole jutsu"** he said, using his previous jutsu. This time on a much larger scale.

The ground shook for a moment before the entire house, fence and all, was swallowed up by the earth. "We can't have people tracking us" he explained before walking.

The teens looked at each other before hurrying to catch up. "What did the scroll say?" Naruto asked, referring to the one Zabuza gave them.

"Let's start clearing the mist at the place of our fallen white lily." Ryuunosuke recited. "This is a simple but effective code. The first part, "let's start clearing the mist" refers to a conversation I had with him before your mission and doubles as a code word. The second part "the place of our fallen white lily" is a place only known to many, but only a few know the significance to make the connection. The full name of our teammate was Shiro Yuri, which means white lily…"

"it's the place where you lost your teammate" Fu realized.

"Yes, now anymore questions?"

"No" the teens chorused.

Xxxx

The group arrived at the rendezvous point exactly 3 hours before midday.

"Take a break. If Mist is still as strict as it was when I left then we will leave as soon as we meet them and explained the situation." Ryuunosuke said.

"right."

And exactly two hours and 59 minutes later, the weaponsmith got up and walked to a seemingly normal patch of flowers. "I wish to clear the mist" he said to the flowers.

At once shadows leapt from the trees and the patch of flowers went up in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, there was an entire team of ANBU shinobi.

"Ryuunosuke, the Metal Dragon." The leader greeted, "where is the Demon we were told of."

The remains of team Zabuza looked on as Ryuunosuke replied without as much as a flinch. "The Demon has fallen in battle. His students has brought his body and sword"

The leader sighed. "Well that is unfortunate. We could have used a leader like Captain Zabuza." He said, taking off his mask in respect, the rest of the ANBU following. "I am Kyousuke Kousaka. These are Nami, Teru Mikami, Yuuto Kiba and Kimihito Kurusu" He introduced.

Naruto slowly walked up to the group and observed the ANBU. Kyosuke Kousaka was a young man with black eyes and a black hair which seemed to have a slight blue tinge to it and a single lock of his hair was left hanging in the middle of his head. Nami was a thin, athletic looking girl with long wavy orange hair (which scored some points in Naruto's book). Teru Mikami, like Kyosuke, was a young man with short black hair, but what differentiated them was that Mikami let his hair grow to shoulder length and also wore a pair of glases. Yuuto Kiba looked very young, maybe 16 or 17 (which slightly surprised the trio that someone so young would be in ANBU) and had short pale blond hair, grey eyes and a mole under his left eye. Kimihito Kurusu was a tall man with messy black hair and eyes that didn't seem to have pupils in them. He had some scars and his hands bandaged, possibly a taijutsu user.

Ryuunosuke patted Haku on his shoulder, "this is Haku, last known surviving member of the Yuki clan, Zabuza's first student." He started before patting Naruto with his other hand "this is Naruto, Zabuza speculated his parents and has had Mangetsu Hozuki look into it. He is Zabuza's second student." He then nodded at Fu "this is Fu, formerly shinobi of Waterfall. Zabuza's last student."

The ANBU noticeably got tense as soon as they heard she was from Waterfall, but the Higurashi quickly put an end to that. "She is no spy, I vouch for her." This seemed to ease the worries of the ANBU. "Very well. Let's get going" Kyousuke said before jumping off into the trees in the direction of the rebel camp, the others soon following.

As Naruto started to jump, he remembered Zabuza's words.

Flashback

It was the third day of Zabuza's healing. He had regained most of his motor functions but his instincts were still dulled. That was the only reason he hadn't launched an attack on the Leaf teams yet.

Naruto knocked before walking into the room. "Zabuza-sensei." He greeted, "I have a question."

"What is it?" Zabuza asked, he was bored so this was a welcome distraction. "A few days ago, when you were telling us about your time in Mist" Naruto started, "when you first spoke about Yagura, you made him seem like he was a kind and helpful person. But towards the end, he became the Fourth Mizukage and you tried to kill him, why?" he asked.

"So you noticed. Yes I know that seemed out of the ordinary, but I don't blame you. To understand my actions, you must understand that in the 4 or so years I knew him, I could usually tell when something was bothering him. But after I graduated, he started becoming distant. By the time I went on the last mission with Shiro, he had become a complete stranger. Of course, it was possible that he was becoming distant because he was being groomed to be Mizukage, but at his coronation, I saw none of the kind man he was before. When he first issued the order for the elimination of all bloodline users, I knew something was up, he had become a tyrant. Now many could just say that he let the power corrupt him and he deserves to be killed, but I don't believe that. In our fight, I think he had a moment of clarity because near the end when he could have taken advantage of a slight miscalculation on my part, he hesitated and for a moment I saw the man who he was before. That moment of hesitation allowed me to escape. So the point I'm trying to make is- I don't believe he let the power corrupt him. I believe there is outside influence." Zabuza looked Naruto in the eye "and that's why I want to go back. I still believe he can be saved."

Flashback end

 _"_ _If you believe that Yagura can be saved, then I will do everything in my power to save him. It is my duty, as your student, as your son, as a fellow Jinchuriki to him"_ Naruto thought determinedly.

-unknown location-

"The escaped subject appears to have awakened the sharingan" a voice said.

"kukuku, well done Naruto. I was beginning to think that you wouldn't awaken it." another cackled as yellow eyes pierced through the dark.

AN: done! No cliffhangers this time ^.^. sorry I know there is a lot of time skipping in the chapter, but I'm sure you don't want to know every single part of their journey to point A to point B right? (and yes I know it is extremely OOC for Zabuza to speak the way he did in the flashback and how team Zabuza quickly got over his death, but 1, I needed to explain something and 2, let's just say they haven't completely gotten over his death yet, only burying the pain)

Oh yeah, I just wanted to clarify one thing: Orochimaru took him just after Minato died due to the reaper death seal. So the Leaf (those that knew he was born) just assumed that Naruto had been disintegrated/eaten or something. Maybe the Kyubi's chakra burned him and Kyubi is dead. So it doesn't matter if any Leaf sees him, they won't recognize him or his name, not for a loooong time. If you need more clarification, just say so and I'll answer as much as I can without spoiling.

Anyways, I have a challenge and 2 questions to everyone!

Challenge: name the anime in which the ANBU members were based off (each one is different). Winner/s gets special shout-out and virtual cookie!

Question 1: some of you guys and/or gals have suggested that I make the chapters longer and last chapter I gave the reason why I have a problem with that. Now the thing is, it all comes down to you readers.

 **Would you like longer chapters that take longer to make or keep the updates as they are.**

Question 2: I had revealed the blue sharingan last chapter, and some of you are hoping that it has some awesome power, now I _do_ have an idea for a good power to give to Naruto via sharingan, but I want to hear _your_ opinions. (credit will be given where due)

 **What power do you think the sharingan should give Naruto.**

Reviews:

AndiDuel: Let's see, in order, I did drop a hint in chapter 17 in my response to AmbertheCat but I'll say it again. I kept his parents as in canon, but I took liberties with his grandparents. His sharingan _will_ have differences compared to the average ones (the current biggest difference is it being blue lol). How special… can't really say, it all depends on what his powers are going to end up I suppose. I won't fit them in the coming chunin exams. But I will in the next one. No I won't kill Gaara. Thanks for your support ^.^ I'm always happy when I pull off a plot twist no one sees coming!

Talonsen: well now is your chance to suggest something. You could suggest a special thing it can do and if we (ZV and I) like it, we will use it! (of course credit will be given where due). As for the sound 4 using curse seals, yeah I admit they were possibly tired because they _did_ need to take a break, but they only seemed a little out of breath and from what I understand, the battle with the jonin was very quick. But you did raise some very good points. Choji taking the pills, Neji and his sacrificial blow, the Sand's timely arrival _were_ probably the only reason they won (well that and the fact they were probably needed for plot xD)

Noahendless: aye

Oneoddtodd: thanks for the support

Zeus501: ehehe, I hadn't had much use for him ^.^ll so bye Zabuza, see ya later (maybe). I suppose they did take down 2 jonin (which were basically no-named canon fodder) and exhausted the other two before retreating, but I still stand by my thought that they didn't look that exhausted when the retrieval team caught up. Well let's see, the Leaf will be fine-that's all I'll say (and no gaara will not die). As for the last question, who's to say he hadn't already? (hint hint).

HAHAHA YOUR DOGS ARE NO MATCH FOR MY SECRET WEAPON! GO GIANT STEAK! *throws a huge piece of meat 500 meters from where the cats are* now where'd I put that catnip….

BClassDemon: hmm maybe… you're close but not _quite_ there. I believe the reason for kekkei genkai is that the body naturally has the perfect balance of the elements, thus making it much easier to use them. The reason the sharingan can't copy the kekkei genkai is because the user's body doesn't have the correct elemental affinities in the correct quantities.

Wyrtha: well, she didn't take a shot at him because she didn't feel like it, and also because she is mostly a support fighter. Besides, Naruto didn't and he finished his fight first. It's because they aren't really assassins. They're more like destroy enemies through fights and not the type to kill without a direct order I suppose. As for Kakashi hearing his name, as I mentioned above, he thinks Minato's baby is dead and never even knew the child's name. Not to mention the thought of Naruto even being alive never even crossed his mind.

S.P. Roy: thanks…

Thor94: I didn't really have much plans for Zabuza, my only plans include him mostly as that mentor who gets them on their feet before leaving. And as I have clarified above, no the Leaf will not connect the dots as him being the son of the Fourth.

Anime Da vinci: if you are still reading this (for whatever reason), that wasn't meant to be a plot armor. That was just an attempt at humor.

Jackalvmage12: thank you, I do think that was one of my better chapters =). Yeah, I only planned for him up to Wave. His death was used for another plot.


	25. rebel's camp

Chapter 24

Rebel's camp

The group of nine arrived at the edge of what seemed to be a normal deserted crater, possibly the result of some suicide jutsu from the last war.

"Wait here for a moment" Kyousuke said, stepping forward

"You've upped the security" Ryuunosuke remarked.

The ANBU leader nodded before doing a long chain of hand seals, stopping on the tiger seal. "Release."

The young ninja watched in amazement as the previously deserted crater faded away to reveal a large camp. Small tents, enough to hold three, maybe four people at a time, scattered around the campsite. In the middle of the camp, stood a single tent, about three times as big as the others. The leader's, or possibly the tent for strategizing. Not far away from it, was a cluster of tents with a red cross by the entrance- the medical tent. To its left, about 20 meters away, stood a large fire pit and a dome made of earth. Judging by the smell coming out, it was the kitchen. A bit further away on the other side of the camp, close to the edge, there was another dome, but this one was bigger and looked much sturdier, as if designed to take many hits before falling.

All around, shinobi were sharpening their weapons, training, discussing battles, trading stories or eating. But no matter what they were doing, they all had one thing in common. They were tense.

"It's as if they're expecting to be attacked any moment" Fu whispered.

"They are. War does that to anyone." Nami answered. "Let's go see the leaders."

Xxx

"Halt! Identify yourselves." A guard called as they approached the camp.

"ANBU team 24. Returning from mission, codename: demon return home" Kyousuke answered, holding up a scroll.

The guard took the scroll and after reading it and preforming a quick genjutsu check let them in. "welcome back. The leaders are expecting you"

Kyousuke nodded and waved the group in. "come, it's best not to keep them waiting."

Xxxx

The group got a few curious and wary looks on their way to the leader's tent. A group of 4, 1 large man and 3 teens, all being escorted by 5 ANBU wasn't a sight you see every day after all.

Arriving at the tent, Kyousuke knocked in a quick pattern before announcing "ANBU Team 24 reporting back."

"come in" a muffled voice called.

The tent looked bigger inside than outside. In the middle stood a single table with a map laid out and multiple flags on it. Around the table stood five people. The one in the middle was a large man, even bigger than Ryuunosuke. To his left was a slightly smaller man with three broad, blue striped marks on his face, a pair of red goggles, a purple necklace and wore his headband like a bandana. Next to him was an average sized man with shoulder length white hair, a black sleeveless shirt, light purple pants and bandages around his neck. To his other sides were two old men, likely veterans of the previous war.

"Welcome back ANBU team 24. I trust the mission was a success?" the large man asked.

"Unfortunately not Ryuji-sama. He died before the meeting was scheduled. However we have brought back his three students and the Metal Dragon, Ryuunosuke Higurashi."

Ryuji sagged his shoulders. "and so close too… but where are my manners, my name is Ryuji Sakamoto. I am the current leader of the rebels. To my left are Chukichi and Mangetsu Hozuki. To my left are the elders…"

Naruto looked at the white haired man. _"So this is Mangetsu Hozuki. The man Zabuza said would tell me about my family, why does he look familiar?"_

Lost in his thoughts, Naruto only heard the last part of his introduction, "…it is unfortunate that our first leader Zabuza couldn't make it, but I hope that he has passed his knowledge on you, his students."

Haku stepped forward, "I am Haku, last surviving member of the Yuki clan. To my left is Naruto and my right is Fu. I trust you already know of their circumstances?" he asked.

"Yes, Zabuza did mention them last time he visited." Ryuji nodded.

"That's good, and you are mistaken, Zabuza isn't our sensei," Haku paused, observing the slight shock and worry flicker in Ryuji's eyes. "he is our father" he finished before bowing and stepping back.

"I see. My apologies." Ryuji dipped his head a bit in a sign of apology, "now, as you know, unfortunately this is war and we are short on manpower and time so I cannot chat with you much longer. I will assign a guide for you, to explain the rules, regulations, signals and answer any questions you might have. Bring me Mei Terumi" he called.

The tent flap opened and young slender girl with green eyes and waist-length auburn hair walked in. "you called, Ryuji-sama? Who are these handsomes?" she asked.

"Ryuunosuke, Naruto, Fu and Haku. This is Mei Terumi, an excellent prodigy. She is around your age and skills if what Zabuza told me was correct. I feel that you would be more comfortable with someone like her instead of an experienced adult. Mei, these are the students and adopted children of Zabuza" he said pointing to the remnants of team Zabuza, "and this is Zabuza's teammate. Show them around the camp and get them settled in would you?"

Mei nodded "follow me handsomes" she said, walking out again.

Ryuji watched as they left, the tent flap falling after Ryuunosuke left. _"She is a young prodigy, and those are always welcome in war, but at the same time, the war has made her mature fast. She has many pent up emotions hidden behind a mask, and I fear that if they aren't released, she might explode, or worse. She has to learn that one cannot simply lock away their emotions, that's the only way for her to reach her full potential"_ he thought. "Now, where were we?"

Xxxx

"As you already know, that was the leader's tent. All planning and information goes there. It is one of the most protected places and impossible to sneak up on due to Chukichi's sensory prowess. Next we have the food hall, each person gets a certain amount of food a day. This food cannot be stored for the next day but the higher up in the ranks you are, the more food you are allowed to get." She leaned up against Naruto, "but if you do certain _tasks_ for me, I might be willing to share my food" she whispered.

Naruto was confused, what was she implying when she said "tasks"? And why was she leaning against him?

Haku was staring at the scene in no small amount of amusement _"that could have had an effect on him, if he wasn't socially stunned and about as dense as a rock"_

Fu was glaring ahead with conflicted emotions. A part of her wanted to burst out laughing, but another part wanted to strangle them. That was the part that confused her. Why did she want to strangle them? What did it matter that this girl they just met was getting cuddly with Naruto? And what was that she was feeling in her chest?

Ryuunosuke looked at the peculiar scene. Naruto lost, Mei trying (and failing) to flirt, and Fu who was glaring ahead. The only other one who seemed amused was Haku. " _Naruto, just got here and already got a girl huh? This is going to be interesting"_ he thought, hiding his smile. "Well, you guys have fun, I'll be heading over to the forge. I need to start unpacking and setting stuff up. I'm sure some extra weapons would be needed."

Fu paused a moment before sighing and moving away from the confused blond. "Alright, we've gone through most of the important structures anyways. I trust you know where the forge is?"

The blacksmith nodded, "we passed it on our way here." He said before turning and walking away.

The teens just stood there awkwardly and watched him go.

"Soooooo…." Naruto started, "Where's the training grounds? Ryuji said you were about our strength, I want to see that for myself, and what better way than a free for all spar?" he offered.

Mei's eyes lit up "Good idea! I know just the place! It's not far from here," she then bit her lip, "but my jutsu aren't meant for sparring. I don't want to accidently melt you"

Team Zabuza blinked in unison "melt?" they asked.

Mei nodded "I have the lava and boil bloodlines. With them I can turn the terrain into a lava pool that will melt anyone but me. I can also release a corrosive mist that will melt the skin right off your bones… before melting the bones themselves. The silent killing you learned from Zabuza wouldn't help you here. By the time you found me, you would be nothing but bones." She explained.

Naruto whistled "that's brutal! But with all this I assume you are a ninjutsu specialist?" he asked. Seeing Mei nod he continued, "that's perfect! I am a ninjutsu and kenjutsu specialist, Haku is a ninjutsu specialist and adapt in pressure points and medicine, Fu is mainly support. So if we had a taijutsu battle, we would all be handicapped in some way!" he explained excitedly.

"That's a good idea but…" Mei started.

"Come on? Are you scared?" Fu teased, entering the conversation. For some reason she liked the idea of being dominant over Mei.

Mei's eyes hardened, "of course not! I just thought that _you_ might not be able to take it!"

"oh yeah?" Fu asked, butting heads with Mei.

"Yeah!" Mei replied, pushing back.

"You know what? I think we should just sit this one out and let them battle it out" Haku whispered to Naruto.

Naruto looked at Haku, "aww why?" he whined "I wanted to test my strength against hers!"

Haku shot him a look "Trust me on this"

"Fine" Naruto relented, sulking on the way to the training field.

Xxxxx

"You ready to lose, green horn?" Mei taunted once they reached the training field.

"No, are you, fat ass?" Fu shot back.

Mei was instantly enraged. She was not fat! She just had a large behind! There was nothing she could have done about it! "oh it's on!" she shouted, dashing forward with a punch.

"Too slow" Fu said, dodging to the side.

Mei gritted her teeth and used the same fist for a backhand strike. Fu raised an arm and blocked it before retaliating with own strike.

Mei took a leap backwards and took a calming breath before taking a stance and engaging again.

"She's not bad" Naruto remarked from the sidelines.

"yes, not bad" Haku answered.

Back at the fight, Fu and Mei were still exchanging blows. "not bad fat ass" Fu grinned, "but I win this round". Mei barely had time to register the words before she was swept off her feet and landed on her back. She was about to get up but Fu straddled her and placed a kunai by her neck. "game over".

Mei sighed and dropped her head back to the ground. "So you did, not would you kindly get off? Unless you enjoying that position?"

Fu blushed and quickly got off "hey! I'm not like you!" she cried, covering her chest.

Mei stood up, well that was a nice exercise, now we better get showered. I'll show you your tents and after that take a bath. Dinner is at 7:30-8:30. You will be assigned duties tomorrow"

"right" team Zabuza replied as they walked off in the direction of the tents.

AN: I'm sorry for the late update, and skipping last week's. Mei's younger personality needed a lot of thought. I don't think it was ever shown in canon. Anyways, unfortunately I got more bad news, well not that bad. The update times will change to a chapter every two weeks. School is piling work on like crazy. Also, we are moving into filler chapters, so if there are any filler you would like to see, just drop the name of the arc and I'll see if I can fit it in. Planned fillers are: Shion arc and I might have a couple non-canon arcs.

I'm sorry I had to make the changes and to be honest, I didn't want to, or make the excuse.

For the powers, I have read and taken a look at all of them. Some are quite good and I'm sure that with some time I can make it work. Now my suggestion: what do you think of the idea of Naruto having slight control over vectors (like in Elfen Lied for those who've watched) due to it? I won't explain the full details in case it goes though, but it will be very similar, just not to the same degree of control and destruction.

The answers for the ANBU naming challenge.

Kyousuke Kousaka- oreimo

Nami- one piece

Teru Mikami- death note

Yuuto Kiba- high school dxd

Kimihito Kurusu- monster musume

Reviews:

Hikari Nova: there's the answers, now you know them :D

BlackDragonShinigami: sorry for late update, the answers are up there.

AndiDuel: LOL I wrote this chapter and came back to read the reviews again and I found that I happened to write it almost exactly like you asked.

Thor94: hmm, maybe for longer times, but not permanently, I'm not smart enough for that xD. And yes Orochimaru knew, how? Well you'll find out later… much later.

Zeus501: DAMMIT! (goes to personal secret lab to find an even more addictive catnip). And yes, they will discover that Naruto is the thought to be dead son of the fourth Hokage, but that's only close to around when the 4th shinobi war begins.

Jacklvmage12: haha, same here. Nami is from one piece and Kyousuke is from Oreimo (that was pretty hard, it is completely different category from the others). Everything else was correct. I will try to type out more, but its upcoming fillers so you never know. As for the Amaterasu, I was looking for something a little different than that of canon. We know Itachi can use it, and from what I have seen most users have different techniques with the Susanoo being the only same one. So I was thinking Naruto would have the same. So no Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu and that. But I will reveal a secret to you. The Mangekyo will only be awakened near or at the end of the civil war because of someone dying (no surprise here) to save him.

NoaTheYaoiVampire: that's a great idea! Though I'm pretty sure there _was_ a mangekyo jutsu that rewind time (and I'm not talking about Izanami). I will take your idea into deeper consideration and see how I can modify it to suit the story. Both the ideas sound awesome though.

BrotherCaptainSheperd: Ironically that is similar to how the blue sharingan was originally planned. Of course that idea was basically ditched because it was half-assed and gave him no power up and is no different than the red other than color.


	26. being on probationary sucks

Chapter 25

Being on probationary sucks

Team Zabuza met Mei outside the food tent the next morning.

"Had a nice sleep?" Mei asked.

"We've had worse" Naruto shrugged.

Mei walked up and leaned against him, "you know, I could help you sleep. It would be the best sleep you ever had" she whispered.

Naruto looked at her excitedly, "you got hotel beds? I've only slept in them once but it was amazing!"

Before Mei could reply, Fu jerked on Naruto's arm and pulled him away. "That's enough. Just tell us what we're doing today." She snapped.

Mei sighed and smoothed some non-existent creases in her dress "well since you are new, you're on probationary. That means that you cannot go outside the camp without being accompanied- which also means no missions and will be watched at all times. Your jobs will be to clean the weapons, dishes and help out the camp in general. The probationary period would normally be 6 months, but with us in a civil war, it has been reduced to about a month. It would have been different if Zabuza was here, all that would've been needed was probably some talks over a few drinks with the commanders and you'd have skipped the probationary all together" Mei looked at them with a hint of pity, "but what's done is done. Here is a list of what is needed around camp. You'll start after breakfast" she said, handing Haku a scroll.

Naruto and Fu peaked over his shoulder as he unraveled it. Their eyes started to widen when he continued to unravel it without any hint of reaching the end. Before long, the end of the scroll had reached the ground and started to pile up on itself.

"This is insane!" Naruto objected. "We would never get it done in a week! Never mind a day!"

Mei shrugged, "Well you've got a month, that should be enough time."

Haku looked at the number on the last one. "Number 3000: cut down **1** tree about 10 miles from camp to be used as firewood every two days." He read.

Mei nodded. "To the west of the camp, there is a patch of woods with extremely large trees. A single tree is enough to fuel the entire camp for 2 days. Don't worry about carrying though, there will be a team of about 20 to cut the tree into small pieces and store them into scrolls. To carry one of those would require strength of a large summon or that of Tsunade of the Leaf Sanin"

Naruto looked at her "3000 things. With some needed daily, every three days or weekly. That makes it roughly 100 chores a day. Who even designed this? What would you do if there wasn't people on probationary?"

"in order, the probationary system was designed by Ryuji-sama himself, and most of these chores are given to teams that rotate each day." Her eyes glinted "but once they heard of a probationary team, well, the teams were all tired from the war and needed a break. Of course, there _are_ those who feel a bit guilty or are too restless to relax and are willing to lend a helping hand once in a while." Mei answered. "Well, you better eat fast, meal time ends in about 15 minutes. I've already had mine so I'm off to get a mission. Good luck!" she said before turning and waving.

"Well, best get eating then" Naruto said, turning around "but, umm Fu? Can I have my hand back?"

The green haired girl blushed and quickly let go of said appendage. "Yeah sure" she mumbled before quickly walking away.

Xxx

"Let's see. First on the list, feed the messenger birds." Haku read. "They have messenger birds?"

Naruto shrugged, "apparently so."

"Well it would make sense, they would probably need to keep in contact with other outposts and that." Fu pointed out.

"Yeah, makes sense, but where do they keep it?"

After some searching and pointlessly walking around, the group gave up and asked a random shinobi passing by. Lucky for them it was one heading there as well.

"you must be the new probationary. My name is Mizuki. I work there and keep track of the animals and decipher the codes and send messages," He introduced. "other than that I sometimes help out in the medical tents, but enough about me. The birds are usually fed by Satsuki but she's lazy and took the first opportunity to give the job to someone else. Guess you were just unlucky. But don't worry feeding them is easy once you get the hang of it."

Haku nodded at the information and filed it away in his head before taking a closer look at Mizuki. He was an average man in almost every aspect. Grey hair, average build, average looks, average height, normal glasses- the whole package. The only thing that would differentiate him from the average civilian would be the way he carried himself and the way Haku caught Mizuki looking at him the same judging way. The tense muscles and slight prodding in many parts of his uniform wasn't suspicious. Hidden weapons and the jumpy attitude were something anyone would adopt during times with many battles, as was the judging looks. Any smart shinobi would judge everyone he came across. Be it a enemy ninja, civilian or even a probationary ally like team Zabuza.

Both gave a slight nod of their heads. A sign of respect in recognizing the strength of the other and acknowledging they had been caught.

"We're here. The birds are the tent to the left back. The food should be on the top left shelf. Divide one bag as equally as you can. These birds might get jealous if they feel the others are getting more than they do." Mizuki advised. "I'll be in the middle tent if you need me"

Thanking him, the teens headed over to the directed tent. "That was a lucky break, Mizuki didn't seem like a bad guy" Naruto commented as they walked into the tent.

Instantly the whole group felt themselves being watched. Dozens or beady eyes turned and watched them walk in. A few birds stopped their grooming to size up the new arrivals.

"amusingly these birds give off more killing intent than some of the bandits we faced." Fu mused "now where were those bird food?"

"They're in the…" Haku started

"Found them" Fu announced, pulling a large bag off the shelf. "Now, how do we split this?"

Xxxxxx

-many mistakes and a large mess cleaned up later-

"That took way too long" Naruto huffed "We'll never make 100 at this rate"

"Yeah, the three off us aren't near enough to do everything" Fu agreed.

Naruto smacked his head against the wall "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid" he muttered. "why didn't we think of this before?"

"Of what Naruto?" Haku asked, "and stop hitting your head. You don't have the brain cells to lose"

The blond stopped and rubbed his head "That's mean Haku. As I was saying, why did we have to waste a bunch of time on doing this ourselves? If the first task is going to take this long, we'd be lucky to get through 10 in a day, never mind 100. So why not use clones? We could all make a bunch, this way we can stick to our plan with only a few we need to do more than once."

Fu smacked her head "of course! Naruto and I could make 200 clones no problem and Haku could still manage 50 without dropping! If each task would take about this long, we could keep to the amount planned! This way we could not only train our chakra reserves, but we could also have time to train in the training fields too!

Naruto and Fu looked to each other and started chatting excitedly while Haku just looked ahead, depressed. "Still manage 50 without dropping they said" he muttered, "way to feel a guy feel needed."

After another minute of them talking about something or another (somehow ice cream in the Land of Fire got involved), Haku decided to cut in. "Enough. If you two won't stop talking, we won't even get started, never mind finished. Let's head over to the nearest training field. I'm sure the camp wouldn't appreciate us making a ton of clones in the middle of camp and we might be mistaken as enemies due to the large amount of chakra we would use."

Xxxx

"Alright. So because we never thought about this, we'll have to make do with this single scroll. We'll make the clones and divide them into groups. Each group will take one or two tasks while we stay here and split the list into daily, weekly once off or anything in between. After that we'll either join them or train ourselves. Any objections?" Haku asked.

Both Jinchuriki shook their heads. Haku was usually their planner and they seldom had better ideas than him.

 **"** **Ice style: ice clone jutsu"**

 **"** **Shadow clone jutsu"**

The training field was filled with a large cloud of smoke. When it cleared, it was revealed to be filled with hundreds of clones. "Alright, divide yourselves into roughly 100 teams" Haku commanded.

There was a large scramble where many clones almost dispelled. A minute later, almost every clone was in a group. The only clone left was one of Naruto's who was simply looking around.

Naruto walked up to his clone and placed a hand on its shoulder. "I'm disappointed in you" he told him solemnly.

"Shut up. I'm you" the clone shot back and reared its hand back for a punch. Before it could do anything, it had a senbon in its head thanks to Haku. "Wow Naruto, even your clone hates you" Fu said and causing the entire clearing to be filled with laughter.

Naruto shot a dirty look at his clones "traitors" he muttered under his breath.

Haku sighed. Only Naruto could make clones that insult him and laugh at him. "let's just get this over with"

Unlike earlier on, the clones formed a relatively straight line in their groups to receive their assignments. Each assignment was met with either a happy look of joy at an easy task, followed by a look of disappointment at getting another, or a look of pure dismay at their luck.

"Toilet duty, check. Washing dishes, check. Cleaning weapons, check…" so on an so forth. It took an entire hour to get the jobs assigned to the clones. By that time, it was close to midday and the originals were already tired.

"… and finally, you as the last group have the privilege of keeping watch as I sleep- ow! Alright I get it! sheesh Haku, take a joke would you?" Naruto muttered, rubbing his head. "as I was saying, you have the privilege of washing the clothes" Naruto announced as he ticked it off the list before walking over to the shade and sliding down the tree. "phew. Now that that's done. All that's left is to divide the remaining tasks and we'll call it a day" he yawned "right after a nap."

Haku was about to object when he heard snoring. Turning around, he saw that Naruto had already fallen asleep with Fu leaning on him. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to rest a bit" he muttered before making an ice clone to keep watch and falling asleep himself.

Xxx

AN: a few hours later than the normal Sunday updates ^.^ll. Writers block is a pain. To tell you the truth, I only really planned up to the death of Zabuza and them going to the rebel camp. After that, it was a whole blank space for fillers before… yeah I'm just gonna stop myself there. Gotta keep you readers guessing after all ;).

Now as I said, we are now in the fillers arc. The current fillers planned are the Shion arc and the Isaribi arc (which is a 50/50). I need more arcs! If you have any you would like me to try fit in (or any you made up) just drop a PM or review and I'll see what I can do.

Oh yeah, I think I asked this once before but then forgot to add in the next chapters: what summons do you think Naruto should get (besides foxes, dragons and the three from the sannin)

Also, the competition for chapter and story names is still up.

Reviews:

Noahendless: really? I didn't know about that. From my interpretation it was everyone had a different set of Mangekyo jutsu in their eyes but the only common one would be Susano'o when both were combined. Because look at Obito and Shisui, neither of them were shown to be able to use Amaterasu (of course Shisui died early on without showing much so we won't discount the possibility of that). I believe that Obito had a Kamui on himself in his right eye and a Kamui on someone else in his left with the Susano'o being the one created when both were combined. I reasoned that both Itachi and Sasuke could use Amaterasu was because they were siblings but hey, I could be wrong.

I'm not completely against canon Mangekyo jutsu (Susano'o is a definite one that will show up) but I would rather explore some different ones first.

As for the Uzumaki Chains, if what I've read (and reasoned) was right, then they were only given to those with special chakra. The reason why it's not used for projectiles would probably be because it would be hard to control them once it leaves the chakra network. But yeah, good idea for it. I'll see how (and if) I can incorporate it into the story.

AndiDuel: yeah, I thought it would be best to have her younger (didn't want her to seem like a pedophile lol). I do plan to have her break down some time in the future with Naruto there. And thanks for understanding.

BlackDragonShinigami: thanks, updating, later

Thor94: thanks, yes they joined, didn't want Mei to look like a pedophile, thanks, the catfight was amusing to write too.

salasdaniel74 : I don't believe I used those words… but if I did, no not like those two, not everyone has that kind of sealing knowledge after all, more like in life where people are like "they're not truly dead, they live on through us" and all that. Also, I like that name. The chapter has been changed accordingly ;).

Devanta1: in order: unfortunately Naruto will not be using a bow and arrow (though him using chakra bows would be cool). Yes he will get summons. I will take your suggestions into consideration. Susano'o will stay Susano'o cause I need him in a future plot. The power of destruction seems like a good idea, I would need to go and watch highschool dxd first though :P.

Jacklvmage12: well if I didn't have the fillers, you would be missing out on a couple explanations (which has some plot relevance later on) and a 4 year timeskip where Naruto suddenly grows powerful enough solo Yagura.

I planned to have Mei introduced a bit later but then I though "eh why not now" and boom there she was xD.

Yeah, OP Naruto is a fun read (cause it usually comes hand in hand with humor), but gets a little old after a while, that's why I'm only going to give him Mangekyo much later on. I'm only asking for better jutsu because as you said, the normal ones are a little bland.

Antex- The Legendary Zoroark: well as you have probably seen by now, he already has his sharingan. Thanks for the compliment, here is the next chapter.

Talonsen: those are all good ideas (pretty OP ideas but still good) but there's one slight problem… I haven't watched DB Super, Bleach or Getbackers so I haven't much idea how it's used ^.^ll. I do think they are great ideas though, and I have forwarded them to ZV to see what he thinks.


	27. chopping trees, probationary done

Chapter 26

Chopping trees, probationary done

It's been an entire month. Throughout the month, Team Zabuza had been abusing the clone jutsu. Within 2 weeks, most of the once off tasks were done. Though most of their tasks were done through clone labor, it was quickly established that cutting down the trees would require the originals, of Naruto at least.

Flashback

"Woah! When Mei said the trees were extremely large… she didn't mention they were _this_ large!" Naruto exclaimed.

Indeed, the trees were massive. It took 3 fully grown men together to even hug the circumference of the tree.

"… well I suppose it makes sense, they would need to be that big to fuel an entire camp of shinobi for two days straight" Fu mused

Next to them, a young boy with short, tuffy blue hair and dark eyes pushed up his glasses "well, umm they're impressive for here, but, umm not really when compared to the Leaf." he muttered weakly. "hi I'm Chojuro"

"Well, they're still impressive none the less." Haku commented "but how do we cut it down?"

"With ninj-" Naruto started.

"No!" Chojuro interrupted, "this place isn't far from the Mist village, not to mention that chakra attacks that damage it have to be pretty strong and alert the sensors and such attacks would damage the tree which isn't good because we need to conserve in case we need to ration."

"ok, clones then?" Naruto asked.

"not a good idea either, look closely at the trunks. They're covered in small thorns that somehow suck chakra. For a normal ninja it may not be much, but to a clone, well it usually dies out within a minute." Chojuro explained. "These trees were originally used for training the swordsmen. Their goal was to chop down a tree with a single strike with the use of a single wooden sword. Since the tree absorbs chakra, which means that just enhancing the wooden stick wouldn't be much help. They had to learn to either overload the blade with chakra and basically make it so that there is enough chakra for the blade to reach and cut through the trunk or to pack the chakra so densely together the tree would have trouble sucking the chakra. Of course, there were those who bent the rules a bit like Kisame with his monstrous strength and Samehada. I've heard that he achieved the task first time under the tutorship of Fuguki Suikazan. The rumors were that he used about 9/10ths of his chakra to feed Samehada and grew it to twice the size of this trunk and because Samehada also absorbs chakra, the tree couldn't take any from it and collapsed with the weight alone."

"To have such massive strength…" Fu muttered in awe.

"He must truly be a monster" Naruto continued.

"And Zabuza fought alongside him…" Haku added.

"awesome!" they cheered together.

"Alright!" Naruto hit his fist against his hand. If its swords this was training for…." his hand crept to the hilt of the sword he got from Mifune. "One-slash!"

All the shinobi who were preparing themselves and sharpening their saws looked up at the declaration. Their eyes widened and the faster ones reacted and formed handseals.

Naruto got up from his stance to see some shocked, awed and disapproving looks from the other shinobi.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, confused.

"Well for one, you almost wasted a perfectly good batch of wood" a muscular man said, pointing to the fallen tree which was being supported by a mixture of water and earth dragons as well as a few earth walls and a strange yellow substance. "The point _was_ to cut down the tree, yes. But with that weight, it would've shattered and become useless, not to mention the sound of it hitting the ground will alert Yagura's forces."

Naruto gulped.

"but since you're new, I suppose you don't know that so I'll excuse you this one time." He continued. Do it again and there _will_ be consequences. You hear?"

The blond nodded quickly and made to put away his sword.

"stop, you seem pretty good with that sword. And the move you did. That was the signature technique of Mifune of the Land of Iron. How did you learn it?" he asked.

"I trained under him... umm sir" Naruto stammered.

The man smiled "I'm Hiruku. Now why don't you chop that log into smaller pieces? Consider it your punishment."

"Yes sir" Naruto saluted.

Flashback end

It had been a month of many discoveries, but now that the probationary period was over, it's time to start real missions.

Or so they thought.

"What do you mean we're gonna be patrolling?" Naruto demanded.

"Well, since you are new to the area, patrolling will help you learn the geography better. Of course I will be assigning some shinobi that are knowledgeable in the area too." Ryuji explained.

Naruto crossed his arms and frowned. Still not at all pleased. He was a shinobi! A jailor to the most powerful demon in the elemental nations. Studied for 3 years under the tutelage of the Demon of the Mist _and_ the Leader of the Samurai, a person feared even by most Jonin. Took on hundreds of opponents. Yet now he was being reduced to a mere patrol.

"You drive a hard bargain." Ryuji sighed, a faint smile on his lips "fine, I will also assign Mangetsu to you. We have covered most of the plans and I'm sure he would like to stretch his legs a bit. Besides, I believe he had something to talk to you about, Naruto."

At the mention on Mangetsu, the words of Zabuza rang through Naruto's head. _"_ _ask for Mangetsu Hozuki, if he wasn't the one to meet you, I've told him everything in case something like this happens. He will answer all you questions"_

"We accept" Naruto agreed quickly, glancing at the other two members of team Zabuza.

"I knew you would, pack for two weeks and meet by the edge of the west camp in two hours. Mangetsu and the rest of the team will meet you there"

 _"_ _Mangetsu Hozuki. Do you really have the answers?"_ Naruto wondered.

Xxxx

It's been almost two weeks and Naruto was getting frustrated. Ryuji said that Mangetsu wanted to talk to him, but every time Naruto tried to talk to him, Mangetsu just avoided him, dodged his questions or gave him a task to do.

They were currently camped in the last sector of the forest they were patrolling. From what they had been told, there was just a small group of Yagura's troops ahead. "a good way to end off a mission. Killing a bunch of Yagura's troops" Mangetsu had said.

Naruto was snapped out his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. "If I was an enemy, you would be dead Naruto" Haku mused "what's on your mind?"

"Haku, do you think Mangetsu can really answer my questions?" Naruto asked, "I mean, he's been avoiding my questions ever since the mission started."

"That's because in order to explain, you need to know the full details. And telling you that will take time. Not to mention it will keep your mind occupied. We cannot have you distracted in battle. I will tell you once we've finished clearing Yagura's forces." Mangetsu's voice was heard from above them. "For now, just concentrate on preparing for the upcoming fight" and with that, he melted into a puddle of water.

"Well, you heard him Naruto, prepare for the battle. Looks like you gonna get your answers soon enough" Haku said, standing up and patting him on the shoulder.

Xxxx

"Piercer attack" Mangetsu whispered into the headset. "Team 2 to the left, 3 to the right. Team 4, cut off their escape. Team one attacks head on."

"Team 3 ready"

"Team 2 ready"

"Team 4 ready"

"Team one, go!" Mangetsu ordered.

" **water style: great waterfall jutsu"** Fu called

 **"** **ice style: coming of winter"** Haku followed

 **"** **shadow clone jutsu"** Naruto finished, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword, " **one slash"**

The teams situated around nodded in approval of their teamwork. The waterfall jutsu stunned most of the shinobi. The ice jutsu made it unusable for them and had the added effect of them losing their balance. Then comes the actual attack. The amount of clones all charging easily dealt fatal wounds to the less experienced ninja. Quantity over quality indeed. The only ones that made it out alive were a few experienced Jonin or lucky chunin. Those were quickly taken care of by some well-placed Kunai with explosive tags and the other 3 teams surrounding them.

"Good work. Impressive teamwork you three. Zabuza taught you well. Secure the area, we set up camp here tonight. Naruto, walk with me. I believe there is an explanation I owe you." Mangetsu commanded.

AN: I'm sorry for the short chap. Next chap is gonna explain some history, not much more planned than that.

Need more filler arcs

Current planned: snow/spring, shion, Uzumaki exploration

Still debating: blood prison, isaribi

To be reviewed: amaru, kazehana, Karin/tayuya rescue,

Summons news(only 1 will be chosen): many of you have a different variety of summons, ranging from badgers, demon birds, _flaming_ kamikaze birds to Panthers, Eagles, Lions, or Salamanders. Of course, the majority seemed to like wolves. Now for the next part. The summons are still open to add, but for now, I would like everyone to state:

a reason for their choice

how Naruto would get the contract

the summon special abilities

Boss summon.

I think I covered everything… well on to the reviews!

Reviews:

Wyrtha: hmm, that sounds a little like something the two tails would have lol. Also I deaged Mei cause pedophiles aren't cool xD. Remember, if Mei went full against Fu full, it would likely end in Fu's win. she's still got weights on _and_ she's a Jinchuriki. Mei is a mid-ranged ninjutsu specialist and those lava jutsu are quite chakra costing. As for supervising the group, you never know, there are ninja everywhere, maybe even a few ANBU hiding?

Thor94: haha yeah

Devanta1: thanks, your summons input have been noted

BlackDragonShinigami: thanks

MiseryWolf: arcs and summons noted

Jacklvmage12: eh 3000 tasks, over a period of 31 days, with most of them being reasonably simple like getting water or checking the birds, with the help of clones ain't very tough. Remember Zabuza had come before so it's likely they already knew the trio would use clones.

Yagura was the 4th Mizukage. The young looking child with a staff and had the 3 tails in him.

Lol demon bird noted!

(lol I got your first review anyways)

AndiDuel: those jutsu, maybe (near the end, around 4th shinobi war). Dunno who would teach him if he does. Probably learn the jutsu himself and sage mode through summons or outside (not saying any names) forces. Ironically I had similar ideas with Naruto comforting Mei after a breakdown, though I never quite got to the part of Fu getting kidnapped xD.

Antex- The Legendary Zoroark: yes he will.

Post Watermelone: LOL flaming kamikaze-ing birds!

Guest1: badgers noted

Noahendless: thanks

.3950: glad you thought so


	28. history

Chapter 27

History

Mangetsu led Naruto through the trees a distance away from the others. "Take a seat. This is quite a long story."

Naruto nodded and sat on a rock (conveniently placed by the author) jutting out the ground and waited for Mangetsu to begin the explanation.

"there must be many questions you want to ask. If I'm not wrong, the biggest one is "who are my parents?" correct?" Mangetsu asked.

Naruto nodded.

Mangetsu sighed. "That's easy. Your parents were Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash and Fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki the Red Hot Habanero."

Naruto's eyes widened before he closed them and took a deep breath. "If it was that easy then why did you take so long to tell me?" he asked.

"Telling you their names was the easy part. The hard part is explaining the rest. That's why I took so long. As you know, we are in a civil war, and as the rebels, we do not have access to the archives. Ever since Zabuza came to the rebel camp three years ago, I had been searching for the explanation. Old rumors, experiences, spies,"

"Spies?"

"It may not seem it, but both the Rebels and Loyalists have spies everywhere. Other villages, small towns, even in each other's bases."

"I see"

"As I was saying, I contacted my spies everywhere. The spies in Mist searched the archives and dug up all the records they could find. The spies in other villages looked around for anything else we could have missed. I asked around the camp for rebels who may know anything. Relations, experiences, and things they had heard. All that took time. Only last week did I get the last piece they could find."

"And? What did they find? Are they still alive?"

"No, I'll first tell you about them, I'll get to the cause of their death later. First, Minato Namikaze. Not much was known about him. From what we gathered, he was an orphan made sometime between the Second and Third Great Shinobi War. He attended the academy with all the other students his age. He was a student with slightly above average scores and graduated to be on a team with his peers. His sensei was the legendary Sanin Jiraiya. A few years later his teammates died on a mission gone wrong and he became the apprentice and successor of Jiraiya. During the Third Shinobi War, he invented his two signature jutsu. The Hiraishin, also known as the Flying Thunder God, and Rasengan. With the Hiraishin, his speed was unrivaled, even surpassing the Fourth Raikage's Lightning Armor. The Rasengan was the pinnacle of chakra control. A hand held ball of pure chakra. Together, he decimated an entire battalion of Rock Shinobi within minutes." Mangetsu took a breath and gave Naruto an apologetic look "that is pretty much all we know about him."

"It's ok, it is more than I knew before. What about my mom?"

"Kushina Uzumaki. Now _that's_ something we know more of. Let me first tell you about her homeland and clan. The Hidden Whirlpool. It was on a large island not far off the coast of Mist. It wasn't close enough to any of the other lands to be part of them. Instead, it was given the name "Land of Eddies". On the island resided the Uzumaki clan. They were a relatively small and clan compared to some others. In fact they were once part of the Senju clan of the Forest back during the warring clans era." Mangetsu paused and knelt before drawing a spiral on the ground. "the Hidden Whirlpool was given its name by the many whirlpools surrounding the island. For any normal shinobi, it is near impossible to cross, be it water walking, summoning, or ship. Yet somehow the Uzumaki harnessed the whirlpools and used them as a defense.

The special thing about the Uzumaki is that they had extremely potent chakra, insane stamina and strong life forces. There had been many debates whether it was their bloodline or not.

It wasn't unusual for an Uzumaki to live past a hundred. Almost all Uzumaki were naturally gifted in Kenjutsu- some rivaling your sensei, Mifune, when they reached 25. They were also unrivaled in the sealing arts. Creating many masterpieces throughout the generations. There have been many stories of Uzumaki conjuring up tsunamis in forests, tornadoes on cloudless days and raining kunai that lasted hours."

Naruto listened in awe as his imagination ran wild with the images of Uzumaki harnessing the forces of nature and bending them to their will. Suddenly a thought ran through his head. "wait, so they made things that were much more complex than even the Higurashi sealing scroll?"

Mangetsu smirked, "of course I believe one story of it was an Uzumaki that was close friend of a Higurashi clan head went to a wedding without gifts and panicked. He grabbed a spare scroll from his pouch and drew the sealing formula before presenting it. In his haste he failed to realize that it was a special replicating scroll and he drew a blood seal on it. The scroll had a spiked edge which the clan head pricked his finger and completed the blood seal. The scroll then replicated many times before they finally got it under control. By that time, there were enough scrolls for every Higurashi at the time to carry one and more."

"so the treasured scroll of the Higurashi was made by an accident at a wedding because an Uzumaki forgot a wedding gift" Naruto deadpanned.

"pretty much"

Naruto sighed "please continue"

Where the average shinobi learned things about how chakra is used and taught simple jutsu D-ranked jutsu in the academy, the Uzumaki taught sealing arts and C or even B ranked jutsu to their students.

From the rumors, it was said that to pass their graduation exam, they had to be able to show significant skill in Kenjutsu, display a jutsu B-ranked or higher or of their own creation, and create an original, useful, functioning seal."

Naruto's eyes were widening with each passing word. "Tell me more!"

"there had been rumors that the Uzumaki had a clan summon, but that was never confirmed.

Some also say the Uzumaki had such potent chakra that they could compact it and use the dense chakra to form a physical construct." Mangetsu paused to look at Naruto in deep concentration with his eyes squeezed shut and sweat dripping down his brow. "what are you doing?" he asked amused.

"trying to make a chakra chicken" the blond answered.

"well, you might want to tone it down a bit, right now your chakra is acting like a beacon for the loyalists." Mangetsu warned him while trying to hold back his laughter.

"right sorry" Naruto apologized and stopped trying to mold his chakra, "as you were saying?"

"Well, the Uzumaki had short attention spans for learning most things but they were also notorious pranksters. There had been instances where the Uzumaki won a battle where they hurt nothing but the pride of the enemies. They would do small things like draw a seal that attracts flies to the person if it was something simple like accidently stepping on their toes- if they were lazy. But if they were really offended then the person would have bird poo attracted to them, being chased around by insects, ferrets and other wildlife and more, while running around shouting random words in a pink skirt."

Both shinobi paused a moment to imagine the scene before bursting into laughter.

Finally both of them calmed down enough to talk normally.

"Yeah, so that was the Uzumaki. Anything else you wanted to know before we moved on?" Mangetsu asked.

"Are they still around?"

"Yes and no. The Hidden Whirlpool was destroyed at the end of the Second Shinobi War. Cloud, Rock and many other smaller villages decided that the Uzumaki were getting too strong and banded together to destroy them. The combined alliance outnumbered the entire population- including civilians 1 to 100. Somehow the invading forces got through the whirlpools without their ships torn apart."

Mangetsu took a deep breath and looked Naruto in the eyes.

"The battle lasted three days. By the end of the third day, the invading force of thousands had less than two hundred alive."

Naruto gapped in shock. A massacre of that level! He shuddered just thinking about it.

"Do you see now, Naruto? Why the Uzumaki were so feared?"

Naruto nodded, unable to speak.

"Most of the Uzumaki were killed. Some fled to all corners of the shinobi world, hidden. This brings me to your grandmother."

Naruto looked up, pushing the thought of the carnage to the back of his head. "My grandmother?"

"Yes, this was something that surprised me too. It just happened to be in the marriage records in Mist, an unexpected find. Of the fleeing Uzumaki, a few settled down in Mist. Your Grandmother was one of them." Mangetsu took out two pieces of folded paper and gave it to Naruto.

The blond unfolded paper and read it. "T-this is…"

"Yes. A marriage record between Sayuri Uzumaki and Kazuma Hozuki and the other one, the birth certificate of Kushina Uzumaki. The people that did the documents must have been friends of either one or both of them. If word had gotten out about an Uzumaki being alive, and having children no less, well, the point of invading the Hidden Whirlpool _was_ the extinction of _all_ Uzumaki."

Naruto folded the papers and carefully placed them in his pockets. "Wait, then how did my mother meet my father if she was in Mist and he in Leaf?"

"Well," Mangetsu scratched the back of his head "the invaders wouldn't have taken down _all_ the Uzumaki anyways. The wife of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, married an Uzumaki, Uzumaki Mito. I suspect your grandmother contacted her to take your mom, knowing that even if word got out there was an Uzumaki there, she would still be safe..."

"Because Leaf was and still is the strongest hidden village" Naruto realized "to take her would start a war they wouldn't win. Not with all the legendary shinobi there! Grandmother was a genius!"

"I would like to think the Kazuma Hozuki also played a part in planning it" Mangetsu pouted.

Naruto stopped mid-cheer "Oh yeah! Grandpa was a Hozuki! That makes us related right?"

"Well, probably distant cousins or something, but yeah"

"Woo hoo! I got an awesome family!"

Mangetsu smiled at his energy " _hmm, family. I wonder how my little brother is doing._ " He mused to himself. "Come on Naruto, let's head back to camp, the others should be back too"

"Right!" Naruto saluted, getting up from the rock.

"Oh and one last thing, it's best not to go around shouting out your clan names. There are ears everywhere and both the Uzumaki and your father, Namikaze have enemies everywhere." Mangetsu whispered in his ear as he walked past.

Xxx

AN: sorry this got out a bit late. I had a slight complication with uploading (namely my internet being a pain and having no signal)

so yeah, a brief history lesson. As I said a couple (like 8 at least lol) chapters back, I'm taking a lot of liberty with Naruto's grandparents. I kept most of history similar to canon (at least I hope I did) so not to get confused.

I did a little experiment in the beginning to add humor, what do you readers think of my attempt at poking the fourth wall? Should I get my hammer and start breaking it?

Planned fillers: Isaribi, snow/spring, Shion, Uzumaki Ruins exploration, star village

Debating: blood prison, 0-tails (amaru), kazehana, tayuya and Karin rescue, 3-tails capture

Still need a few more fillers. Come on! We need 3 years of fillers!

Summon news: as it stands, Naruto's summons are going to be wolves because so many people love the idea and have convincing arguments (that doesn't mean you can't vote or request a different type! There is still a chance the summons will change!).

And if you look closely at the chapter, you might get some sneak peeks of what I might have planned, not just a chapter to give Naruto his clan names, maybe ;)

Also if nobody minds, I will start using Japanese terms, nothing major, just some village names, the suffixes and that (because typing "the village hidden in the mist" is so much harder than "Kirigakure" and I think just saying the leader's name without "-sama" is a bit disrespectful )

Anything else you would like to clarify anything feel free to PM or drop a review!

Reviews:

Thatoneguy1242: good ideas, I will chat to ZV about it.

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: thanks

AndiDuel: that's a great idea!

BlackDragonShinigami: hmm I prefer not to use foxes cause they're a bit overdone. As for ligers… I'll check up on it. why, how and what special abilities would they have as well as the boss summon.

Zeus501: so many questions…. Let's see, in order- I'm pretty sure those are rhetorical questions you were going to answer…. I prefer no foxes/kitsune because it's a bit overdone, I haven't seen wolves before either, for those special abilities… wouldn't those just be like normal? xD. I admit the thought of a bunch of wolves shooting fireballs would be scary, but fun. Imagine, instantly cooked and ready to eat food after a tiring hunt. Demon and multi-tails, dunno pretty sure that would upset the balance of only 9 tailed beasts. The threesome would start around where shippudun would be I suppose. Rasengan- maybe will, maybe wont ;). The Leaf will learn about it at a much later stage (again around shippudun) and will they try taking him back? Well you gotta wait and see now won't you? ;). As for my research, well I have just created a catnip with 50x the addiction yet blended with a special secret formula (not the one used in krabby patties… or is it) that has medicinal properties to prevent any deaths.

Thor94: thanks

PhysicsLlama: water bears? I haven't even heard about it! xD. The ideas and your explanations are great though.

Noahendless: demons are a pain to name and control.

Jacklvmage12:I admit, I hadn't seen the demon birds (except that one used by pein, but that doesn't really count) either. The ideas for the Byakuganish and tracking are great and would probably lead to some amusing situations. As for the power levels… I think that's a little OP xD. I mean, destroy the universe on a whim? Well I suppose I know how to end the story if I'm desperate lol..

As for the chapter section. Either ways, it's likely that I won't show something like that again. It was meant as a one-time filler thing.

Emeraldfox57: thanks, I like the idea of having many different wolves that have their own elements.

SpencerDorman: I admit you raised some good points on him having the sword, but, firstly, remember he isn't his father (he might not even use the Hiraishin), secondly as you know he has his own sword (and if you look closely you'll find I dropped a little hint of it not being made by the sage) thirdly, Fu is a support without many offensive jutsu so she would need something to defend herself, fourthly, plot. I'm not going to say why but, plot.

Yes there is a difference between the eyes, well the Mangekyo anyways (which is still the same awakening as normal). Its advantages, disadvantages and drawbacks (if any) will be slowly revealed throughout the story. As for the sword, as I stated earlier, I revealed a slight hint to the creator. Yes there is something special (though it would be amusing to see reactions if I revealed it was just a sword dipped in gold)

Drinkingdragons: hmm swordfish, haven't seen that one before, wouldn't be much use on land though (but I suppose that wouldn't be of a drawback since they're in Mist)

MiseryWolf97: good points, though I can't say much about Moro since I haven't gotten around to mononoke yet.

Draco7347: thanks


	29. April fools

Chapter 28

Happy(?) April fools

Naruto walked over to where his friends/teammates sat, overlooking the fire. "hey guys, guess what Mangetsu told me?" he asked, holding back a grin.

"what?" Haku asked, turning around.

"well… I'm not supposed to say it, but since you're my closest-"

"only" Fu muttered, hiding it behind a fake cough.

"-friends" Naruto continued ignoring her, "I will, but you will need to come closer"

Haku and Fu looked at each other, each other, the huge grin on Naruto's face made them very skeptical of what he needed to say, but eventually their curiosity won out and reluctantly leaned in.

"he told me my heritage" Naruto whispered excitedly. "and who are they?" Fu asked. "Well, I can't tell you my dad's name because he has too many enemies, but my mom is Kushina Uzumaki." Naruto beamed

"that's great Naruto!" Fu exclaimed.

"and you know what else?" Naruto whispered "the Uzumaki were known for their pranks"

Before the two could process what he just said, the Naruto they were talking to burst into water and completely drenching them. The two drenched shinobi looked at each other. "Totally saw that coming" they said at the same time. They heard some tree leaves rustling to their left and looked just in time to see a laughing Naruto emerge. "you should have seen your faces!" he laughed. His laughter was cut short when an ice needle pierced his throat. He barely had time to look surprised before he exploded in a shower of water.

"That was cold Haku! (AN: honestly, no pun intended) What if that wasn't a clone!" Naruto whined as he emerged from his hiding place a tree next to the one the clone came out from.

Haku just shrugged and shuffled closer to the fire, quickly followed by Fu. "but I suppose now that we know you're an Uzumaki, it explains your "gift" for pranking and anything prank related."

Naruto walked over, sitting down after receiving a quick punch by Fu ("to make sure he wasn't a clone" she said). "what do you mean Haku?" he asked, taking a quick bite out of the fish.

His fellow Jinchuriki looked at him weirdly "you mean you hadn't noticed?" she asked.

"No? What didn't I notice?"

Haku made to facepalm, but thought better of it considering that the hand he was going to use was holding his dinner. "oh I don't know" he muttered sarcastically, "maybe that one time you somehow managed to set an entire swarm of locusts inside our tent and set a trap that threw us into the air and land perfectly in the middle of a lake during the night?"

"Hey! I was bored!"

"or the time where you raided your side of the bandit camp by taking their food and replacing it with transformed clones that had nothing but some spoons and forks?" Fu added.

"honestly not one of my better ideas. Being eaten wasn't fun, the look on their faces and the chicken made it worth it though!"

"maybe that time when you got pink dye from a passing town and dyed all our clothes pink?"

"aww come on! That was a classic, besides I made sure to get the ninja one too! Just in case emergency!

"we couldn't figure out how to get it off for a week! I felt like a useless fangirl!" Fu complained.

(somewhere in the village hidden in the leaves)

"achoo! Someone must be talking about me! Must be Sasuke! I'm coming Sasuke!" a certain pink haired girl screamed before running off with hearts in her eyes

(back with our main characters)

"But this is beside the point. What we're trying to say is, you always do insane pranks that no ordinary person would even think about. It must be because of your Uzumaki genes."

"ohh!" Naruto realized "that's awesome! I've been living like my family before I knew about them!"

The three ate in silence. Naruto silently cheering about his pranking accomplishment while Haku and Fu thought about their own lives. Soon it was time to pack up and leave. It may have been dark, but the group had sensors that could catch anyone falling behind or approaching.

As they were packing up, Naruto noticed that his friends seemed to be a little down. He may have been dense, but no one can say he was blind. " _I'll cheer them up once we get back."_ He vowed to himself.

If only he knew they wouldn't be going back to the same camp.

Xxxx

Naruto looked around at the unfamiliar terrain. The tents were there, as were the people, but trees, rocks, even the smell that was made by staying in an area was different.

"Don't worry too much kid, this happens once in a while. The commanders send out a scout mission for a new location. Only the team leaders know of that and the camp's new location. Of course, after the first few times, you know when it happens." A middle aged man said, patting Naruto on his shoulder as he walked past.

Naruto took a moment to think before shrugging. Things weren't much different than before, the only difference between living at the rebel camp and on the road with Zabuza was that they didn't have to travel so much. Here the rebels only moved camp once in a while, as opposed to the every week at least once with Zabuza. This worked well in Naruto's favor. He always had a knack for remembering things quickly, so finding the layout of the new camp wouldn't be too hard. All he had to do was send out a few clones and by the end of the day he would know every ambush hotspot, hiding place and grounds he could use to train.

Naruto watched as the group dispersed and silently made some clones transformed as common creatures. Bugs, birds, squirrels even a few turtles. He didn't know what they would be useful for, but maybe they could sit and listen to some useful information without being spotted. The original joined Haku and Fu to set up their tents.

Xxx

The next day

Naruto grinned and cackled at his work before tying the last knot. He knew by experience that after each mission, a team was usually given a day off to rest. Naruto planned to use it to the fullest. "this will be the best training course they have ever seen!"

"where are you taking us Naruto?" Fu was heard asking. " _and right on time too"_ Naruto thought and performed a smokeless substitution with his clone. "just a little training course I made" Naruto smirked. "watch your step"

Haku and Fu quickly stopped moving. They had learned quickly that Naruto loved to warn them at the last possible second when pranking them. As they expected, there was a rope right under their feet. If they had taken another step, they would've been caught. Before they could celebrate, the ground underneath them disappeared in a puff of smoke. Fu quicky grabbed the edge of the hole while Haku just made a mirror platform to land on. They jumped out and landed on a tree. They took a quick look at the tree and saw an explosive tag. Haku made an ice mirror and jumped into it while Fu just swung herself down the trunk of the tree. "you gonna have to be better than that Naruto!" she called on her way down.

"ok! Just look underneath you!" Naruto called back.

Almost fearfully, Fu stopped sliding about half a meter off the ground and took a look. The entire base of the tree was covered with tags. At once all the tags started to glow.

"Are you insane Naruto?! Fu screamed. _"he wouldn't detonate them right?"_ she asked herself hopefully as she tried to jump away just in case.

It was at that moment the tags exploded, into confetti. Fu could have sworn she even saw some that had "happy birthday" printed on it.

"you're losing your touch Fu! Naruto called out cheerfully. But don't worry! Only another 4 more obstacles." Fu groaned and hoped that Haku was doing just as bad as her.

(With Haku)

Appearing out his ice mirror, Haku immediately dodged a rain of kunai and made an ice dome over himself.

"aww no fair Haku! You know I can't break that with just ninja tools!" Naruto whined "this is supposed to be an obstacle course! Not a hiding-in a-dome course.

Haku sighed and reluctantly let his dome fall away. "why can't I just teleport to the finish line again?" he asked.

"because that's cheating! Now go! Fu is beating you!

The ice user sighed again before jogging in the direction of the sign saying "come on! You can do it! Just turn left when the trees fall and watch out for the vipers!"

"oh joy" he muttered and started jogging.

(with Naruto)

The blond mastermind grinned and watched as the two raced towards the finish. "well, time to get to the finish line!"

(by the finish line)

Naruto was standing on a podium in the middle of the lake 5 meters above the water. Two rubber balls on podiums to either side of him. Four clones holding a red line by the water 50 meters away. Naruto watched as a pink Haku and glittering Fu reached the edge of the lake. Projecting his voice with his chakra, Naruto shouted "for your last challenge, you must reach this red line kindly held by my clones and jump 50 meters. Your goal is to grab one of these rubber balls and be the winner of the first Naruto obstacle course challenge! Now who will be the winner? Will it be the femboy Haku? Or the fairy Fu? Let's find out!"

Naruto smirked as the last part got the two riled up and dashed full speed towards the line. Jumping and reaching the rubber balls at the same time. Haku cocked his hand back and threw the ball. "I'm male!" the ball flew straight and true, impacting Naruto's chest with such power that Naruto flew back into one of his clones and dispersed it.

The other clones looked at him. "oh look. He used us and didn't even thank us before dispersing one of us! Get him!" one shouted, throwing colorful balloons at the recovering Naruto from out a crate next to him.

"Yeah! A few others joined him in throwing the balloons while the others just sat back and took cameras out from wherever they kept it.

By the time the crate was empty, Naruto had been dyed pink 8 times, yellow 6 times, red 9 times and rainbow 12 times. In addition to that, he had also gotten leaves, feathers and even some old fruit chucked at him.

On the sidelines, the animals watched the peculiar sight of a blond human being attacked and colored multiple times by more of what seemed to be the same blond human.

Haku and Fu watched in no small amount of amusement as Naruto was betrayed by his own clones.

"maybe you'll learn to be more thankful to your clones next time!" the first betrayer clone called before dispersing, followed by the rest of the clones.

"oh yeah, one more thing," the last clone said, dispelling its transformation. Before it could say another word, the clone dispelled, leaving a confused Haku and Fu to stare at the place it once occupied.

Suddenly, they both felt a hand grab their legs and disrupt their chakra flow, dropping them into the water. They only had a glimpse of two cheeky Narutos before it was dispelled by a third who quickly dispelled itself.

The two victims of Naruto's training course surfaced and took a quick look at the surroundings and at each other before bursting into laughter. "only Naruto" they got out in between breaths.

AN: happy (?) April fools! I couldn't really reach arcs yet so a little April fools chapter :D (I know the pranks aren't really good but just bear with it ^.^ll). Anyone had any good pranks they would like share?

My internet is still broken but I'm expecting it to be fixed today so the updates should be back on every two Sundays!

Need some more fillers!

Planned fillers: Isaribi, snow/spring/kazehana, Shion, Uzumaki Ruins exploration, star village, (reader made filler)

Debating: blood prison, 0-tails, Tayuya/Karin rescue

Summons: closing poll when the next chapter is out! This is your last time to convince me of a good summon! As it stands, Naruto is getting…. *drumroll* wolves!

Finally, if nobody objects, I will be starting to use japaneese names starting next chapter (and go back to change when I have time)

PS: Jman is busy so the last couple chapters haven't been edited yet. if anyone is willing i could use a beta.

Reviews:

Jacklvmage12: Pein arc… well it ain't going to be the Leaf because Naruto was never there. Your point in the summon- any proof Katsuya is stronger? Remember she probably wasn't called for just as long or longer than Gamabunta. Filler wise, I do have a few longer fillers (like the whole list I'm requesting readers to add to lol) but yeah, some short 1 chapter fillers too. Oh joy, another competitor for the domination of cats. Well I guess I'll need to up my addiction dosage. I wonder what herbs are both addictive and healing…. *goes off on a long journey to find it*

SpencerDorman: Hiraishin, remember this is from the perspective of a Mist shinobi who didn't know about the second Hokage's work on it. Most of the shinobi world believes that Minato created it. The hydrification (is that even a word?) technique… you'll have to see ^.^. For the translations, oh yeah lol. I've been reading too many stories that I forgot that tiny little detail.

RinneTaicho: well my reasoning for spies is that is it unlikely for shinobi to have spies everywhere? And as for them telling the locations, maybe this chapter helps? Because of them moving so by the time the loyalists receive it the location is already changed. As for the Hiraishin, like I told Jack, it was believed that the jutsu was made by Minato by most of the shinobi world.

BlackDragonShinigami: dinosaur summons… pretty sure I saw one of two in some crossovers. And technically it's just Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki. If you add in every clan you going to end up with a long list xD.

Antex- The Legendary Zoroark : thanks

Noahendless: that is a surprisingly great idea! The only flaw would probably be something like the Uzumaki being protective with the summons and their huge stamina to outlast him.

Thor94: yup, gotta give him back his name after all lol.

AndiDuel: I'll think about that because I admit, it would make many comedic scenes with them fawning over Haku and protecting Naruto (Even if it is extremely OOC for Tayuya and Karin to be that protective). As for the three tails, logically it wouldn't work, because the whole chakra poisoning thing.

Nuno: hmm, I got an idea for that, not for Naruto though.

Wyrtha: that's the plan!


	30. training (i seem to have a lot of these)

Chapter 29

Training (I seem to have a lot if these)

Naruto laid out a blanket as Haku and Fu dried off "…and then I put some of those paper clips into the lemons and left it with the other lemons" he finished as he laid down the last bento. "now lets eat!"

The other two members looked at each other. Naruto had just recounted his last prank and gave them a step by step breakdown of how he did it (including pointers on what to look out for and how best to go about doing it) and frankly, they weren't sure _how_ he hadn't been caught yet. They were in an entire camp full of shinobi for crying out loud!

"Naruto!"

Naruto looked up from his bento. "Mangetsu?"

"it took a while to find you Naruto. You're surprisingly hard to find..." Naruto beamed ".. if I didn't ask Chukichi"

Naruto quickly lost his smile and grew fearful "umm if it's about the lemons… it wasn't me!"

Mangetsu raised his eyebrow "lemons? I'll have to talk to you about that later but that's not why I'm here now. I'm here to offer you training."

Naruto looked surprised for a second. "I'm honoured you would offer to train me, but I would have to decline."

Now it was Mangetsu's turn to look surprised "but why? You've got so much potential! Hailing from no less than 2 esteemed clans, trained with possibly the best swordsman of this age _and_ a jinchuriki to boot!"

"that's true, but I refuse to receive special training because of it. Besides," Naruto looked at Haku and Fu "I can't leave my friends behind"

Mangetsu gave a sigh of relief "oh that's easy, there's plenty of experienced shinobi here. I'm sure we can find some that suits their style best."

Naruto looked at his friends "what do you say?"

"go for it!" Fu cheered.

"I agree" Haku nodded

Naruto looked back at Mangetsu "team Zabuza has spoken."

"good. I will go tell the other sensei. Meet us here tomorrow at 7 am. Sharp. I will not tolerate lateness and neither will the other sensei." And with that the Hozuki collapsed in a puddle of water before another word could be said.

"other sensei? Could he have predicted our answer and already chosen them?" Fu asked.

"Guess we'll see tomorrow" Haku replied.

Xxx

The morning of the next day the groups found themselves standing in the same clearing as yesterday….

"they aren't here yet?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"well we are still early" Haku answered.

"yeah but still…." Naruto started whining.

Haku noticed the morning fog thickening at an unnatural pace and quickly sent out a signal and shushed him.

Naruto noticed the discrete signal and glanced to see Fu did too. "Well I guess th-" before he could say another word a kunai flew out the trees and impaled him through his head.

Haku and Fu quickly jumped away from the kunai that had a cleverly hidden exploding tag wrapped around it. Haku quickly threw a kunai in the direction the other kunai came from and watched as a shadow jumped out. He quickly weaved a few hand seals and made a mirror behind himself and the attacker. Using his momentum, the ice user jumped into the mirror behind him and flew out of the other in front of the attacker with his ice gauntlets already out. He quickly channelled his ice chakra into it and set the temperature to sub-zero. The ice user cocked his fist back and let out a devastating straight punch. The attacker stood no chance as he jumped straight into the punch and froze and shattered on impact.

Haku exhaled deeply as he crouched down and inspected the frozen head. He frowned. "Mangetsu?" he wondered before seeing something glint and went to pick it up. "this is…"

Xxxx

Fu watched as Haku jumped through his mirror before being forced to dodge a sword coming down on her " _another one?"_ she wondered to herself. Fu was quickly snapped out her thoughts when she was forced to bend backwards to avoid being decapitated. She quickly turned the dodge into a cartwheel that kicked the swordsman in the face. She jumped in the air and weaved some hand seals before spitting out a large amount of powder. The swordsman recovered just in time to be blinded by the glittering dust. Fu took advantage of his blinded state and drew a kunai and dashed in to stab him in the heart.

The swordsman looked down at the kunai in his chest before falling over. Fu was about to turn around when she saw something glint.

"hmm? What's this?" Fu asked herself as she went to pick it up. "This is…"

Xxx

Naruto watched as Haku split off from Fu in the fighting and sent a clone with just in case. When he looked back Fu was doing well in her fight and didn't see any need for him to help but he sent one anyways. It was always good to be safe.

Suddenly he heard a rustling behind him. Naruto jumped back to see a young girl holding a rabbit walk out. "umm mister? Have you seen my mommy?" Naruto slowly lowered his kunai "and who are you?"

The girl walked closer still holding her bunny "I'm Hiyori"

Naruto put his kunai away and crouched down and put on his best comforting smile "I'm Naruto"

The girl smiled and reached out her hands "hehe that's a funny name!" Naruto bent down and picked her up. Too late did he see the wires between her hands. He only realized when he felt something tighten around his neck. He barely had time to look down to see the girl's face crack and peel away before the rope tightened.

"that wasn't nice. Say sorry to the kind little clone" Naruto said, holding a kunai up against a tree.

The colour of the tree wavered for a second before it fell away to reveal a young woman with long black hair looking at him in shock "but how?"

Naruto just smirked "a ninja never reveals his secrets" he said before knocking her out with the butt of his kunai.

Naruto took out some ninja wire and searched her pockets. As he was searching, a piece of metal fell out. "this is… a headband?" he wondered as he turned it over. On the back was a piece of paper attached. It read:

 _Congratulations on passing the first test. Meet up with your teammates and come to the clearing. Bring the headband with you. Mangetsu_

Naruto shrugged and made a clone and dispelled it before walking to the clearing.

Xxxx

Naruto, Haku and Fu all arrived within moments of each other. They gave each other a slight nod and looked around, wary of any more attacks. Their attention were then drawn to the slight thud of three people landing in the clearing.

"Well done you three" Mangetsu clapped. "so it _was_ a training exercise" Haku stated.

The second one, the one Fu recognized as the one she fought, nodded. It was to test your individual skills. We know you work well as a team, but we needed to see each of your strengths and weaknesses. Though Uzumaki here surprised us with his little disappearing act. We almost couldn't find him amongst the clones. Of course, you did good with that last one there, Fu blinding an enemy is a good idea, but we need to work on if the enemy has better senses."

"umm who are you? I haven't see you around camp before." Naruto asked.

"ah, our manners. I am Hibiki Saito, the lady there is Suzuno Kamazuki and I believe you already know Mangetsu here. The reason you haven't seen us is because Suzuno and I had been away on a mission. Now if there are no more questions, let's get on with training. Too bad Mangetsu was soft and said today should mostly be just discussing the training and only light sparring if there was time." Said Hibiki.

"How this will work is that you will each have a personal sensei, but you will be training under another one for 2 days a week and every week the different one will switch. For example, I am Naruto's personal sensei. He will be training with me from Mondays to Fridays and with either Hibiki or Suzuno on the weekends. If you are ahead of schedule you can get a day off whatever you're ahead in once a month, of course you will still go on missions so you'll have a day off before the mission but you'll work twice as hard when you come back. Understood?" Mangetsu asked.

Seeing them nod Mangetsu continued "good. Now lets get you started. Fu, you're with Suzuno. Haku you're with Hibiki and like I said, Naruto, you're with me. This next year or so is going to be rough, but you'll get stronger. We'll make sure of that. Now follow your sensei to your own training grounds.

Team Zabuza looked at each other for a second before Haku and Fu disappeared with their sensei through a shunshin.

"now let's begin" Mangetsu said as he sat on the grass. "firstly, the reason I chose you. You are a swordsman, and as the leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, it is my duty to train promising swordsmen so they could hopefully become one of the Seven. The second reason, you are part Hozuki, that alone has many advantages. Like the Uzumaki, the Hozuki clan has a strong chakra, however where the Uzumaki has chakra that is more potent in life force, the Hozuki chakra were more potent in chakra nature."

"potent in chakra nature?" Naruto asked. "yes, the Hozuki prided themselves in producing ninja that have strong chakra natures. Your chakra nature is decided by factors like linage and environment conditions. For example, the Leaf's Second Hokage Tobirama Senju. It was not known to most about his background. Most just assumed he was born to the same parents as the First. That isn't true. Even I'm not sure of the whole story, but I believe the basics of it is that some time during the warring clans era, a Senju and Hozuki met and had him. Due to them being unallied, they were forced to keep him a secret. Eventually the Hozuki was found out and executed, leaving the Senju to take the child home. Later on, the Senju died as well but his brother, the father of Hashirama, took Tobirama in and the two grew up to be brothers."

Naruto mulled over the information for a bit "well that explains the white hair, and I suppose the water affinity was from the Hozuki because otherwise it would be fire." Mangetsu nodded "The mother must have been from a long line of Hozuki with strong affinity to water background. To not only overpower the natural environment changing the affinity to fire or earth, but to maintain it that strong too. Even stronger than some Hozuki of this age."

"so why are you telling me this? Are you saying that I could've inherited the bloodline from my grandma?" Naruto asked.

"there is a chance of it laying dormant inside you, yes"

"How do we find out then?"

Mangetsu smirked. "this is why I chose you. There aren't many Hozuki left in the camp. Most died in the purge or the many battles we had. I am the best suited to teach you. Firstly, how good is your affinities?"

Naruto scratched his head "umm father said that I had one of the strongest ones he's ever seen, possibly even stronger than the Second Hokage or Kisame Hoshigaki."

Mangetsu whistled "those are some big names. If he said you're stronger than them then it's highly likely you have it. Alright, let's get started. First, let me demonstrate. Punch me."

Naruto looked at him weirdly at the sudden request but complied anyway. To his surprise, instead of hitting solid flesh, the part that his fist impacted turned to water.

"the first part of the Hozuki bloodline. The hydrofication technique. You can turn any and all parts of your body into water and control it as you wish." And to demonstrate this, Mangetsu collapsed himself into a puddle of water and moved behind Naruto. "to do this, just imagine yourself as water. Be calm and go with the flow. Do not try to resist it. Water does not stay in a single shape or form. Nor does it struggle against an object. It simply parts around and continues its path. Now you try"

AN: I'm sorry. I said I would get it out Sunday but I had writers block (a huge pain) and couldn't finish it in time. On top of that my computer is bust so I lost a few notes. Thankfully I got most of them backed up on a USB, but I hadn't updated it yet so notes I made in the last few months aren't there. Hopefully I can still get the computer running without losing it.

Fillers planned: Isaribi, snow/spring, Shion, Uzumaki Ruins, star village, reader made

Debating: blood prison, Tayuya/Karin rescue

Need more fillers!

As I said last chapter, poll is closing and the victor if the summons contest is….. WOLVES *loud applause and cheering* congratulations and thanks to all that voted. If you would like I could possibly make a oneshot/omake of any summons that didn't get chosen. Just put it in a review or PM and work on it when I have time.

PS: still no news from Jman so still looking for Beta.

Reviews:

BlackDragonShinigami: thanks

Jacklvmage: haha that would've been amusing. I'll keep it filed for future reference. As for the cats… THIS IS WAARR EVERY MAN FOR THEMSELVES(lol). I WILL HAVE ALL THE CATS IN DA WOOORRRLLLDDDDDD MUAHAHAHAH-cough cough yup evil laughs do a number on my throat. (yea I love cats too).

I honestly don't know if Katsuyu was summoned more because I recall her saying it had been a long time since she had been summoned (so I presume since before Tsunade left so over 13 years) compare to Gamabunta who could've been summoned for some battle or another (though I guess unlikely since there aren't many battles that need him). I suppose Gamakichi was summoned more than Gamabunta in shippuden, though whether it was because he surpassed his father is debatable. I'm not very sure but I think Gamabunta, Gamaken and Gamahiro made up the top three toad summons. To be honest I don't even recall Katsuyu being summoned often. I remember there was the three summons, pein, after madara and when Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke went to fight Madara I think together. When else was she summoned?

Pein arc…. You'll have to see ?

Antex- The Legendary Zorak: thank you

Thor94: hell yeah!

Noahendless: :P. though I admit you raise a good point. I just don't like serious stuff much and prefer humour more.


	31. training with Mangetsu, the Land of Sea

Chapter 30

Training with Mangetsu, land of sea

 _"in, out, in, out"_ Naruto thought to himself as he sat cross legged near a stream. _"water flows and does not resist. It can be helpful like the rain, rejuvenating plants and animals, or it can be destructive like the storms of summer, tearing apart fields and laying waste to everything in its path."_

A few meters behind him, Mangetsu leant against a tree with his arms folded _"he is still too tense"_ he thought to himself.

A drop of sweat dropped down from Naruto's brow. It circled his face and cut through his whiskered marks on his right cheek before coming to a stop on his chin. It hovered for a moment to collect itself before obliging to gravity and falling onto the blonde's lap.

Naruto took a deep breath before slowly releasing it and opening his eyes. "still nothing" he sighed.

Mangetsu walked over and passed him a bottle of water "you're still forcing it. Feel the water to-"

"-be the water" Naruto cut him off. "I know, you've been saying that for the last week already" Naruto wiped his forehead "let me try again." He muttered with some irritation beginning to show.

"stop. You'll get nowhere like that. Take a break. We'll continue this tomorrow"

Naruto nodded and stood up. "so what's next today sensei?"

Mangetsu threw him his sword. "you have 10 minutes to get ready. We're doing sword today. Can't have my apprentice slacking with his swords can we?"

Said apprentice caught his sword and quickly began his warm ups to get rid of the stiffness in his muscles from sitting too long and running through a quick basic manoeuvres to familiarise himself with his sword.

Exactly 10 minutes later Naruto turned around in time to deflect a strike from Mangetsu who was holding a sword that looked like a needle.

"Nuibari. The sewing needle. Has a thin wire that can be used to trap opponents." Naruto recited. "keep an eye on surroundings for traps that could be made while dodging." Deflecting another stab, Naruto felt a presence behind him and quickly dodged just before an axe connected to a chain smashed the spot he was before. "Kabutowari, the helmet splitter. Can crush almost any defense. Best not to block directly"

Naruto felt a third presence and ducked. A huge sword sailing over his head and cutting off a few hairs before impacting with a thud on the tree next to him. "Kubikiribocho, the executioner's blade. Can absorb iron from blood. So long as the handle is intact, the blade will never need to be fixed. I didn't know you had the swords? I'm pretty sure Haku wouldn't allow anyone to take Zabuza's sword willingly."

Mangetsu and his clones stopped for a second. "I don't. All I did was use my bloodline to manipulate the water and condense it to a shape and point that looks and feels like the sword. Of course, it wouldn't stand up to the real thing. Besides," Mangetsu unclipped a scroll from his belt " I got three of them right here. I only made the replicas as a precaution. Training accidents are not uncommon and I would like to prevent any from happening if I can"

Naruto nodded as he eyed the two opponents in front of him. Wait, two? He did a quick count again. _"Kubikiribocho, Kabutowari…"_ Naruto's eyes widened. He had allowed himself to lose sight of the trapper.

Spotting a glint out of the corner of his eye, Naruto quickly substituted to a nearby tree and watched as the log got sliced into pieces.

"your reaction with the substitution has gotten better, but not good enough" Mangetsu stated from behind Naruto. The blond made to move but found himself bound in wires. "… when?" he asked.

Mangetsu released his hold on the wires. "When you train with some of the best wielders of these swords, you learn a few tricks. Kushimaru was very creative with his traps and using the terrain."

Naruto sheathed his sword as Mangetsu allowed his clones to disperse.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on brushing up Naruto's handwriting. The Samurai did a reasonably decent job with it (considering he couldn't before) but he still needed more practice before he could even attempt starting sealing. A single mistake was all it would take for it to blow up in his face or accidentally atomise him and spread the atoms across the elemental nations. Yeah that isn't a nice thought.

By the time the sun started to set, Naruto's hand was already cramping. He packed up the brushes, ink and paper before heading to the dining area with Mangetsu.

Xxxx

Team Zabuza ironically arrived at the same time. Both Fu and Naruto looking like they're about to drop (quite a feat considering their jinchuriki status) while Haku was slightly better. They greeted each other with a slight nod before Haku took out a scroll. "New mission. Land of Sea, just us and Mei. We leave tomorrow." He explained.

"type?"

"…assassination."

Xxxx

"food rations?"

"check"

"weapons?"

"30 exploding notes, 60 kunai, 21 shuriken"

"pills?"

"6 food and chakra pills"

"alright we set. Let's head over to tell one of the higher ups"

Xxxx

Team Zabuza met up with Mei walked with a brisk pace straight towards the mission centre. This was a standard procedure for all the rebels. You either request a mission or you are chosen for one. Once the time for you to leave arrives, you head over to the mission tent to report and give an expected period of time to return (so someone can fetch you or the camp declares you MIA or KIA). You leave for the mission and report to the mission tent again once you arrive back.

The tent wasn't much different from the other tents. The only thing that differentiated it was the purple banner with a scroll and kunai crossed in a "X" shape. Outside the tent stood two chunin guards who let them in as soon as they approached. The guards were less for protection and more to direct the shinobi. This was to prevent multiple teams walking into the tent while another was briefing or debriefing. The tent was laced with silencing seals to prevent anyone from outside hearing the contents discussed inside.

The interior of the tent wasn't much to look at either. Just a simple desk with drawers and a single shinobi sitting behind it. To the right was another two. These two were to alternate between information, paperwork and writing down information.

Haku took a step forward "Team Zabuza. Consisting of Haku, Naruto, Fu and Mei. Mission type: assassination. Location: Land of Sea. Expected time until return: two weeks." He stated.

The scribe… err shinobi on the right quickly jotted the information down while the one at the desk checked over the scroll. "you're clear to go. Good luck"

Team Zabuza nodded and left the tent. Outside waiting for them were Mangetsu, Suzuno and Hibiki. "Naruto a few more words before you go. Haku, Fu, I believe Suzuo and Hibiki would like the same."

"Meet at entrance 9" Mei called as each member of team Zabuza followed their respective sensei in a different direction.

Naruto followed Mangetsu to a reasonably quiet part of the camp. "So you're heading on a mission." Mangetsu started. "yeah, the land of Sea." Naruto answered.

Mangetsu closed his eyes before slowly opening them "the land of sea. An area largely surrounded by water and islands. It's likely you'll be traveling on the water for a period of time. Just a word of warning. Don't try the hydrification technique near a large body of water. You are only starting to learn it and there are risks when turning into water … in water. For example, the higher the volume of water, the more chakra it would take to reform yourself. Not to mention that if there are movements in the water, your concentration may be broken and you will never reform. That and so many other factors and dangers you still need to learn."

Naruto nodded. "I understand sensei. Thank you for your concern." He said before bowing and leaving for entrance 9.

Xxxx

"The land of Sea consisted of many islands. The main ones being: Taro, Mother, Demon and Jiro island." Haku read as they travelled. "our client is from the only part of the Land of Sea that isn't an actual island. It says here that he called in our help because his trading was disrupted and wanted the guy to die."

"Sounds like a greedy rich guy to me" Fu muttered. "It's not that surprising. The land of Sea has no shinobi of their own and the rich magnets don't bother in those affairs until it directly bothers them. Even then, they hire the best help for the cheapest price. Mei answered. "they're all greedy that way"

"greedy or not. A mission is still a mission. We've accepted it so we might as well meet the client before continuing the mission. Now let's up the pace and cover as much ground as we can before nightfall."

"right."

Xxxx

Team Zabuza and Mei looked at the gates of the mansion they were told their client stayed incredulously. "He's rich, but the house is so badly guarded it's not even funny. Any shinobi can just jump over and kill him. Do we really need to enter? He might be dead already." Naruto mused.

Fu smacked him upside the head. "Stop being negative. Even if he was dead, we still need to check." She said, walking up to the door and ringing the doorbell.

Within a minute, the doors swung open to reveal a decently aged (probably around late sixties by Naruto's guess) man in simple clothing. Noting their forehead protectors (which they received a week after their probationary period ended) he quickly let them in. "Daisuke-sama has been expecting you."

Fu looked back at her fellow Jinchuriki and gave him a look that translated to _"I told you so"_ before walking in after the man. Said Jinchuriki just huffed and followed, ignoring Haku who was trying to stifle his laughter.

Mei just looked on, curious to the interactions of the group.

Xxxx

Daisuke was a middle-aged man with shoulder length black hair tied into a ponytail. He wore a small pair of reading glasses that sat on top of his pointed nose. He had a slight, well-trimmed moustache and short triangular beard. He wore a purple shirt that looked carefully and delicately made. Over his shirt, he wore a black leather jacket embraided with golden pictures of flowers and birds that seemed to come alive with the slightest movement from the wearer. The rest of his body was hidden by a large mahogany table carved with depictions of dragons and phoenixes.

"Welcome shinobi of the Mist. I am Daisuke of Daisuke trading." He greeted, his voice deep and smooth.

 _"we never could have guessed"_ Naruto thought sarcastically.

Haku stepped forward and bowed. "I am Haku Yuki. The leader of this mission. These are my teammates, Naruto, Fu and Mei." Each bowed as they were mentioned.

Daisuke nodded "I was not expecting people this…" the man paused, searching for a word "… young" he finally decided.

"you need not to worry. Each of us are capable in our own right." Haku assured him.

"Oh no. I'm not doubting your skill. I'm just not comfortable with the idea teenagers killing for a living."

"Then there is nothing to worry about Daisuke-sama. The moment we became shinobi, we were no longer children or teenagers. We became adults."

The rich magnet leaned back in his chair. "very well. Is there anything else you would like to know?"

Haku pulled out the mission scroll. "we were told most of the details, but we would like to hear it first hand from you. It may be possible that we could find a better way to solve it or if there was critical information left out. As shinobi, we know that even the slightest misinformation could be fatal."

"very well" Daisuke nodded "I doubt you will find much, but I will tell you anyways. Around 3 years ago, children were starting to disappear from the town. At first it was only a few orphans, so nobody noticed. Then after a month, reports from witnesses outlined a man taking them to demon island. The town gathered together and sent a group of men to investigate. They never came back, but the kidnappings stopped. Two years later, a single girl returned from demon island. Nobody was sure what happened to her. All the people knew was that during her time there, she had somehow gotten fish scales. The girl was treated as an outcast, many believe her time in demon island turned her into one. It was also around that time fishermen described a creature lurking below the waters. The creature had green scales completely covering it and could shoot globs of water strong enough to topple to masts of the ships. It always raided the ship for treasures and valuables. It would always disappear below the waters with its loot before anyone got a good look at it or could do anything to it."

Haku looked up from his notebook, "and why did you only ask for shinobi now?" he asked, "judging by your explanation, the creature must have been doing this for around half a year."

"I had always assumed that someone had already tried, but a week ago it raided one of my trading ships and took off with a lot of valuables. It was then that I decided that I had to take action. This is why I hired an assassination team. I believe that whoever kidnapped the children three years ago is linked to these attacks."

Haku closed his eyes and thought over it for a second. "I understand. Thank you for your time. We'll be back once we have further news.

The group of rebel shinobi bowed and left the compound.

"Mei, Fu, find an inn for us to sleep tonight. Naruto and I will find this girl that came back from demon island. I want to meet her and see if we can get anything out of it.

Xxxxx

 **(SORRY FOR THE CODED CHAPTER. THIS PROBLEM HAS BEEN FIXED)**

AN: phew done. We have finally reached our first mission yay!

Not much else to say really.

Summons, send me a pm if you want me to make a one shot of one that didn't get chosen

Fillers planned: Snow/Spring, Star, Shion, Uzumaki Ruins, (reader made)

Debating: blood prison, Tayuya/Karin rescue.

Still looking for beta

Reviews:

Noahendless: I will

Antex- The Legendary Zoroark: thanks and yup. Still a surprise or two in store… maybe

AndiDuel: well here's the Isaribi mission ^.^. as for the traitor arc, I won't make it an entire arc, but I will be using it as the beginning of another 😉

Thor94: yeah… beginning.

Jacklvmage12: HA! So hell has become that weak. I suppose it never recovered from the beatdown I gave it 7 millennia ago. I have harnessed the ancient power of the primordial themselves! Fate bows down to my command. If I wish the fate of the kittens to be mine, then mine it shall be! I won't even need teammates to take on your base. All of creation knows better than to harm me!

Your information is a little more updated than mine. My information is from ninja storm 3 xD.

Brebre99: thank you


	32. the demon girl of the sea

Chapter 31

The demon girl of the sea

Naruto and Haku walked through the town. Keeping an eye on anyone that may seem suspicious while looking for the girl at the same time. The sun had already reached its highest point and began its slow decent towards the sea. The two boys had searched the whole morning but the only piece of information they got was the girl's name. Isaribi. Once they mentioned that name, they would get looks of hate, fear or both and were promptly dismissed with a warning of "if you know what's best for you, you wouldn't try look for her."

Naruto sighed a he inspected a fish a storeowner was selling. The fish was about half a meter long sardine. To a normal person, it would seem as if the fish was just caught, maybe a day ago but in perfect condition. But to a ninja, it was easily visible that the fish had been painted. Some parts were already rotting and there was a slight smell in the air. By Naruto's estimate, the fish was almost a week old.

"So what do you say young fellow?" the shop owner asked "1 000 ryo for the fish. That's a great price for a fish just caught yesterday don't you think?" Naruto nodded. "Thanks, but no thanks"

Just then a girl with some bandages around her face, arms and legs walked past. She had purple hair and wore a sleeveless tunic-blouse and brown shorts. In her hands, she was carrying a basket of medium sized fish. Just a look inside the basket and Naruto could tell that the fish were top quality and just caught. Many of them were still twitching and gasping.

The girl walked up to the storeowner selling bad fish and presented the bucket of fish. He took a look inside and nodded. "500 ryo" he said. The girl looked like she wanted to argue but nodded in the end. She gave him the basket while he threw her a pouch. She barely caught the pouch and opening it, she counted the coins inside. Looking up, she opened her mouth as if to say something. It was likely the money was short. But the man beat her to it. He grabbed a nearby broom and held it threateningly. "Problem?" he asked. The girl quickly closed her mouth and shook her head. "That's what I thought. Now scram! You're interrupting my business and disturbing my customers." He shouted.

The girl quickly turned around and left the shop.

Naruto made eye contact with Haku and gave a discrete nod. This was very likely Isaribi. They quickly and discretely followed her at a distance. After a while, the girl seemed to notice them trailing her and quickened her pace. Ducking into alleys and trying to blend into the crowd. A very hard thing to do when people parted away when you came near and glared in your direction.

Soon they reached the edge of the city and she broke into a full sprint. "Damn, for a non-shinobi, she is quite fast. She must have knowledge of how to use chakra" Naruto cursed. But even if she did, Naruto and Haku were shinobi and had a much greater control of chakra. They caught up to her at the edge of the beach where the water met sand. Naruto jumped in front of her and Haku behind to block off her escape routes. They stood about a meter away from her in a non-threatening manner and held up their hands. "Relax, we just want to talk."

Isaribi narrowed her eyes and before they could react, she jumped and dived right into the sea. They tried to chase after her, but Isaribi just dived deeper and within a minute, they lost sight of her. On land shinobi were faster, but it seems that Isaribi was even faster than shinobi in the sea.

"Naruto, make some shadow clones and have them search the coastline. If she lives on the mainland then she must have a house somewhere here. Given what the town thinks of her, I doubt that they would allow her to live where they do." Haku commanded.

Naruto nodded. " **Shadow clone jutsu!"** instantly, there was a huge cloud of smoke as dozens of clones appeared. "Alright! You heard him! Scatter!" the clones all saluted and jumped away. "now we wait"

Naruto sat down on the beach. "Those fish she had, they were definitely worth more than 500 ryo" he muttered.

Haku nodded "yeah, tomorrow he will find all his fish spoiled" Naruto looked at him in surprise. "I didn't know you were the vengeful type Haku!"

The ice user shrugged "who said it was me?" he winked.

The blond jinchuriki was about to retort when he was hit by a memory "I found it. It's just north of here. Let's go"

Xxx

The two boys arrived at where Naruto's clone dispersed. They saw a house that was covered in graffiti with several boys throwing rocks at it.

"Die demon!"

"Return to where you come from!"

"Give me back my father!"

Were some of the things they were shouting. With each shout, they threw another rock. And since the place was built on a rocky ground, there were plenty to choose from.

"hey look" Naruto whispered to Haku. Isaribi walked out from behind the house with a bucket. Judging by the fact that her bandages and clothes were dry, they assumed that she had been there for a while and gotten changed already. She placed the bucket on a flat rock and took out a sponge and began cleaning off the graffiti, completely ignoring the rocks thrown at her. One particular accurate rock flew and hit her arm that was holding the sponge, causing her to drop it. Even from afar, Naruto could see her wince and rub the spot here she was hit before bending down and picking up the sponge again.

The boys cheered and praised the one who threw the rock and booed when she just ignored them and continued to scrub her house. Angered they were being ignored, they picked up more rocks and threw in her direction again.

Whether by chance or he was just that accurate, the same boy who's rock hit her the first time, threw another rock that was headed for her head, and since she made no move to get out the way, it was likely she didn't know of it. Before the rock hit her, Haku threw a rock of his own that knocked it off course. Surprised by the new direction the rock came from, both Isaribi and the boys turned to the direction it came from.

"Hey! Why did you do that! It was going to hit the monster!" he shouted.

"That's why I did it." Haku answered back.

"He's in league with the monster! Get him!" he told his friends.

Haku watched as all of them threw rocks in their direction. He pulled his hands out his pockets to reveal he had hidden rocks. Throwing them as if they were shuriken, he knocked all the other rocks out the air before they got anywhere near them. "Enough of this. Go home" he said.

One of the boys gritted his teeth and bent down to pick up another rock. Just as he was about to pick it up, he felt the sharp pain of a rock hitting his hand and fell back in shock. "I said go home."

It was then that they noticed the Mist headbands Haku and Naruto wore. "Shinobi!" they cried in fear and tripped over themselves getting away.

The two shinobi watched them leave before jumping down to where Isaribi stood watching. Once she realized that they were coming, she started heading for the sea again but stopped once she saw there were clones blocking the way. She turned around to see that she was trapped. Naruto to her left, his clones to her right, Haku in front of her and her house behind her.

Haku stepped forward but stopped when Isaribi bent down and picked up a rock. He held his hands up. "Isaribi. We are not here to hurt you. We just want to talk" he promised.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at them suspiciously "how do you know my name?"

Haku and Naruto glanced at each other "we asked around" Haku gave.

Isaribi relaxed her stance a slight bit. Not much to say she trusted them, but enough to say that she wouldn't be running away at the first chance and at would at least hear them out. "Fine. What do you want to talk about" she relented. Naruto took this as his cue to dispel his clones.

"I am Haku Yuki and this is Naruto." He introduced "We are on a mission to find an individual. All we know is that this person may be the cause of the sea monster attacks and is likely the same person who kidnapped all the children 3 years ago. Since you are the only person who came back from wherever it was, we thought that maybe you knew who the person was and tell us anything you can remember. This could help us catch him and clear your name. You won't have people treat you as an outcast anymore." Haku explained.

The girl hesitated for a moment. The two shinobi could see the conflicting emotions, sadness, anger, hope and… guilt? It came and went so fast they couldn't be sure. Finally, Isaribi opened her mouth to speak. "The island I was taken to was one of the four main ones. The man who took me was a man called Amachi. The people kidnapped were all used for experiments and I… I only escaped because he let me. And as for treating me like an outcast… the villagers have a good reason to, because… I _am_ a monster!"

Her exclamation caught the two completely off guard and moved to deny, but they hesitated when they saw the slight formation of tears by her eyes. This hesitation cost them as Isaribi kicked up some of the rocks and blinded them before jumping into the water.

When they recovered, Naruto moved to chase after her but was stopped by Haku. "Going on after her is pointless. She had already proven to be faster than us in water. Let's head back to the village and meet up with Fu and Mei to tell them the news. Naruto opened and closed his mouth a few times, doing on impressive imitation of a gaping fish. Finally he closed his eyes took a deep breath. "Yeah. I see your point. Let's go" Naruto said, walking off with Haku following closely behind. "That girl, she reminds me of my time in Mist with the bloodline cleansing. People fear what they don't understand. And them not understanding makes people think rashly and resort to violence. And since they children learn from their parents, they blindly hate without knowing why." He said. "if only people took the time to understand, the world would be a much better place."

Unknown to Haku, there was a third person was listening to his thoughts. " _but that's just a naïve way of thinking. Humans always seek out violence. It is in their nature"_ Isaribi thought to herself as she sunk back into the waters.

AN: (again, sorry for the coded version last chapter. That problem has been solved. Thanks to all who told me about it. I wouldn't have known otherwise)

Yes this is slightly shorter than my normal lengths (and a few hours later than intended too. I should probably start getting them out earlier, I feel like I'm losing readers :/).

Reviews:

(Guest)CW: no I didn't forget (it's kinda hard to when its literally in the title when you post). It's just that no major battles that require the sharingan has happened yet.

(other Guest): a codded problem

Thedarkwolf95: sorry. Has been fixed

Hikari Nova: thanks for the heads up

Cloudmatter: sorry just a saving bug

Noahendless: yeah

Eeveetheimmortal: yeah thanks

Zeus501: done and dusted

Lou2003us: saving error

Anbufox771: yeah it just saved wrong

Golfaholic: sorry bout that. You can continue enjoying the chapters now

Roxas199: it didn't get converted properly

: its fixed now

Jacklvmage12: yeah, the "Kaima". This is that Kaima capture mission (Episode 169-173 in part 1). The hydrofication technique is from canon. The bloodline of the Hozuki (remember Suigetsu?).

Yeah the three old ladies with their knitting tools are on my side, or rather they fear me too much to dare oppose me. I am the lord of creation. I _am_ creation. Chaos, Order, Helix. I created them out of nothing. Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, Aztec, every last immortal. Every last all powerful entity is only strong because I allowed them to be. Besides, who said I was Doomsday? Who said I wasn't the original destroyer? My power of destruction isn't as much as destroying as much as taking back what I created. But as powerful as I am, I am just as generous. I shall allow you to keep some of my feline creations. I can always create better ones. (on a side note, I wonder how many people read our battle for amusement)

I'm saving up to buy a console that has storm 4. It sucked when it didn't come out on xbox360 :/

Antex- The Legendary Zoroark: thanks, and yeah


	33. you're not a monster

Chapter 32

You're not a monster

* * *

Isaribi watched as Naruto and Haku headed off back into town. Suddenly she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She tensed for a second before hearing a familiar voice "how goes the intel gathering." Asked Yoroi Akado.

"slow. I will need at least another two months" I saribi replied. "you have one" and with that the voice and presence faded.

Isaribi sighed _"Haku Yuki, your way of thinking that people need to understand each other is flawed. Humans will NEVER understand one another."_ She frowned before heading back to her shack.

Xxx

The next day

"… and that's all we got." Naruto sighed. "so all we know is that this girl, Isaribi, was "Spirited away" as known to most, or more accurately, kidnapped by one of Orochimaru's subordinates, a guy called Amachi. They did some sort of experiment on her, and likely all the others kidnapped. Chances are it had to do with something to do with water or at least the sea, considering that Isaribi always escaped through it and we could never chase after her." Haku continued. "She said she was taken to an island called Demon Island."

"so that's where we're most likely to find the answers and complete this mission" Fu finished. "but we can't just barge in there without a plan. Give it a few days, if only to gather a little more intel, maybe there is something we overlooked." Mei pointed out.

Haku nodded, "true. Very well then. We look around for the rest of the week. In five days time we will go to Demon Island, everyone is to gather here by 7 am and leave by 7 :10 am. Report your findings of each day here at seven pm sharp. We don't want to spend too much time here and risk getting found out. If anyone is later, assume they ran into trouble. If they aren't here by morning, assume them incapacitated or killed and act accordingly. If they turn up later, verify them before you allow then within 5 meters."

Mei looked at him, " _he is cautious,"_ she thought _"and quick too. Thinking of a plan and back-up plan on the fly like that"_ she smirked _"not bad"_

Xxx

As planned, the group met at 7 am in the morning and again at 7 pm in the evening. However, on the third day, Haku didn't show up. The atmosphere that evening was tense as they hoped that he was just running late or is spying on the enemy. After an hour passed, they decided to start without him. By the time they finished, he still hadn't returned so they went to bed early, still hoping that he was just spying and running late and would be back in the morning.

Unknown to them, they were half right. Haku was indeed spying on the enemy, but he wouldn't be returning that night.

Xxx

Earlier that day

Haku hid behind a building and peered through the glass. "… first said we must keep a watch out here, now he says we must head back toDemon Island. Sheesh, would he make up his mind? Flush." There was a sound of something soft hitting the table. "what can we do? He had already completed his tests and perfected the … whatever he did. What I don't get is why he won't let us play with the girl. He has no use for her anyways" a few more shuffling "and you lose, royal flush"

Haku ducked behind the building again. That confirms it. They were definitely doing something on Demon Island, and whatever it was this guy did, Haku assumed it was Amachi, he is likely leading Isaribi to believe he hadn't finished it yet. This was all the proof they needed.

Haku turned around to leave, but as he turned, he saw a large man with pitch black sunglasses and a cloth that covered the bottom of his face. His build was larger than average but not large enough to hinder his movements.

Haku's eyes widened and jumped back just in time to dodge a swing from the man's large hands. Seeing the man chasing after him, Haku spun on his foot and jumped up the nearest building, leaving an ice mirror to slow him down. Judging by the loud crash and some of the shards heading in his direction, it wasn't very effective.

He made a beeline for the sea, jumping across the rooftops as quick as he could, but no matter how fast he jumped, the man always seemed just behind him. Finally, arriving at a cliff, Haku turned around to face the attacker.

Panting slightly, Haku discretely moulded his chakra and slowly brought his hands together into a seal. " **ice style: coming of wi-"** before Haku could finish his jutsu, the man dashed forward and punched at Haku forcing him to lose his concentration and bring up his hands to block. The man threw another punch that Haku deflected. The two engaged in an intense taijutsu match that the ice user could barely keep up with. After a few minutes, the other man jumped back. Thinking that the man was preparing a jutsu, Haku dashed forward with three ice senbon in each hand. Just as he was about to reach him, the man disappeared in a burst of speed and grabbed Haku in a full nelson from behind, forcing him to drop the senbon. It was only then that Haku realized his chakra was being drained at an incredible rate.

"I see you finally noticed" the man said "yes, I have been draining your chakra this whole time, now it's only a matter of moments before you have no chakra at all" Haku's eyes widened as his struggling increased, but as time went on, his body felt heavier and heavier as more and more chakra was drained. Finally, his movements ceased altogether.

"Hn. Now, to remind those idiots that happens when they're not careful with their tongues." The man muttered, throwing Haku over the cliff and watched him sink beneath the waves before walking away.

Haku watched helplessly as the bubbles escaped around him " _so this is how it ends? It seems I had accomplished nothing. I failed you, father."_ He thought. Suddenly a figure appeared out of nowhere. It's hair, or what Haku assumed to be hair, flowed out all around her head. From the little light that reached him, Haku faintly made out a face that was half covered in scales moving closer to him. The last thought that crossed his mind was " _Isaribi?"_ before darkness overtook him.

Xxx

Haku woke up some time later, judging from the bright lighting it was maybe around midday. He slowly opened his eyes to see Isaribi putting a cloth on his head. "sleep. You are still weak" she said and softly closed his eyelids

The next day

Haku slowly opened his eyes and looked around him. He slowly sat up before feeling something drop onto his lap. He stared blankly at the piece of folded cloth as he tried to remember the last thing that happened.

"you are awake" said a voice from the doorway.

Haku slowly turned around and for the first time, got a proper look at the room. It was a very simple, room. Just a few baskets on the sides and his clothes drying by the window. In the middle of the room sat a pot of soup cooking over a fire. "you saved me" he stated.

"so it seems" Isaribi answered, walking in and sitting next to the pot. She laid her basket down and threw in some herbs from the basket and started stirring.

"why?"

A simple word that questions a lot. As simple as the question is, the answer is much more complicated. Why? If Isaribi was honest wither herself, even she didn't know why. She just did. Isaribi stopped stirring the pot and placed the lid back. "Make no mistake. I only saved you because you saved me" she said, referring to when he deflected the rock the boy had thrown at her, "no other reason."

"I see"

The two sat in silence for a long time. Each lost in their own thoughts while the soup boiled. After what seemed like eternity, but was likely only about half an hour, Isaribi got up and walked out the room. A few moments later she returned with two bowls. She opened the lid before fulling up the bowl and walking over to Haku.

Haku reached out a hand to grab the bowl but dropped it as soon as he saw how shaky it was. "it's times like this I wish I was like Naruto" he sighed. Isaribi sat down next to him and dipped the spoon in the soup before blowing on it and holding it up to Haku "what do you mean?"

Haku opened his mouth and swallowed the soup "he has an unnaturally fast healing ability, I've never seen anything get him down for a long period of time. It's almost like regeneration. By the way, this soup is amazing"

"Thank you"

Before long the soup was finished. Isaribi collected the bowl and walked out to wherever she got them while Haku laid back down on the bed. Isaribi walked back into the room again and started eating herself while Haku stared at the roof. "This is peaceful" he remarked after a while, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

The spoon paused halfway to Isaribi's mouth. "it is. But it wont last"

Haku frowned "and why not?"

"It just won't. Your idea of peace is just a fools hope! There will never be peace!" Isaribi shouted, the bowl falling from her hand and the wooden spoon held tightly in her other. She took a deep breath before bending down and picking up the bowl. "get some rest" she said before walking towards the doorway. "I know you're working with Amachi" Haku called after her, those words stopping her in the doorway "and I still trust you. I trust that you won't hurt me while my guard is down, and I trust you to know the difference between what's right and wrong. Amachi has already completed whatever he was doing and is only leading you around aimlessly. I know this because I heard them talking about it that day. What you said that day, about you being a monster. I don't believe a single part of it. If you were a monster, you wouldn't have saved me. If you were a monster, you wouldn't have let those children throw rocks at you."

Isaribi put the bowl down on the table next to her and turned around and pulled off her bandages in one fluid motion, exposing her scales and fangs "Look at me. LOOK AT ME! Tell me you don't see a monster" she dared.

Haku looked her in her eyes "I don't see a monster, but if you continue to do this, continue to do as Amachi says, you _will_ become one"

Isaribi looked at him in shock. Snapping out of it, she turned around and ran out the house.

Haku watched the spot she stood for another minute or so before lying down on the bed again. " _you aren't a monster"_ he thought before falling asleep.

* * *

AN: woo writers block is a pain! This chapter is mostly Haku's POV. Besides that, nothing much to say. Just the same things as last few chapters.

(if you received a second notification that was just me changing the names from kikai-jima to Demon Island- nothing really important)

 **Trivia question: who was the man that attacked Haku**

On a completely unrelated note…. My app for watching and downloading anime has been taken down *cries* if anyone knows of an app that allows you to download and watch anime offline(on the play store for android) I'll be very grateful

Reviews:

Nexus2200: because school, writers block and laziness

Zeus501: oh that explains the missing 1 mil prototype kittens that malfunctioned. Your hostage kittens are a little out of date "god of the sky"

As for the leaf… I don't plan for them to learn anytime soon…. Likely maybe in 40 chaps?

Thor94: yes. Yes they did

Noahendless: thanks

Dinohuntsmen: ? I understood none of that except you might be drunk….

Jacklvmage12: no she's not a Jinchuriki, just an experiment. And she feels like she deserves it cause she believes she is a monster.

Nah, I know we look alike, but no, I ain't my grandson Chaos. Of course, I do question what made you lose it. To be both my son Heliex _and_ grandson Order? Maaan how do you deal with them? Just one galaxy destroyed gives me a huuuge ton of paperwork, now if you add the domains of those two? That's some impressive paperwork there!

Don't both of those require wifi or something to set up? From what I've been told the games need to be updated regularly and I don't think I can get the internet for that…


	34. demon island

Chapter 33

Demon island

Haku opened his eyes. By his calculations, today would be the day that they left for demon island. He looked outside. Good. It was still dark. He still had enough time to get to them. Haku sat up and swung his legs over the bed, noting how he didn't feel any soreness or stiffness in them. He quickly put on his clothes and headed for the door.

Opening the door, he felt a slight breeze against his face. "So you're leaving" a voice said next to him.

Haku paused in his step "yes" he turned around to see Isaribi. Her face illuminated by the fading moonlight "thank you for everything."

Isaribi dropped her head. Her face shadowed by her bangs "just… go" she clenched her fists. Haku moved to reach out for her. He wanted to say something. He wanted to _do_ something. For some reason, he just couldn't bear to see her this way. He opened his mouth to say something. But nothing came out. Finally he dropped his hand and turned around "I'm going to demon island later. What you do with that piece of information is up to you. Just remember my words. Continue to do as Amachi says, and you will be a monster" he said before jumping away.

The girl watched his retreating figure. His last words echoing through her head " _Continue to do as Amachi says, and you will be a monster."_ she stared in the direction he left. Finally she allowed

a single tear to drop. _"be careful"_

Xxx

Haku arrived at the inn just as the sun started to rise. He knocked loudly on the door, hoping that _someone_ was awake. To his relief, the door was opened by a fully alert Mei. He held his hands up "call Naruto and Fu. I have confirmed that they are on demon island."

Mei made a clone to wake them up "I'm sure you remember your own procedures."

Haku nodded as the slightly less alert Jinchuriki appeared next to Mei. "how do we know you're the real Haku?" Fu yawned.

"Shiro Yuri"

Both Naruto's and Fu's eyes opened wide and snapped to attention "Haku!" they shouted, launching themselves at him.

Mei just looked at them confused. "What? Who's Shiro Yuri and what does that have to do with this?" the Jinchuriki detached themselves from Haku. "oh right, you didn't know. Shiro Yuri was the last teammate of father's genin team. She died on the same mission that earned father his title as Demon of the Mist. We used the place of her death as a reference to where we would meet up with the ANBU team when we were joining the rebels. Not many people know the significance of the place and only the three, four including you, of us know the significance of that name amongst us.

Mei opened her mouth in an 'O' shape. _"such a simple yet effective code. One that uses experience as the key. A normal code can be cracked if the key is discovered, but it is much harder to get a key that is experience._ " She thought. "I see. Moving on, Haku said he found information that he wanted to share? Let's go inside and hear him out."

Xxxx

"…. And then I came here" Haku finished. The last hour or so was spent on catching Haku up on what had happened while he was gone and him telling him what he found. Of course, Haku didn't mention his conversation with Isaribi. He felt that was personal talk and had no significance to the mission.

"So it's confirmed that this Amachi guy is on demon island?" Naruto asked. "I believe so" Haku nodded. "Good. Then let's head over there now and end this mission!" Naruto exclaimed, pumping his fist up.

"No. Trying to approach it wouldn't be that easy. Since they clearly don't want whatever they're doing there to be found, it's likely that they would have many security measures in place. Besides, what about the Kaima? The sea is its turf. There is no way we could fight against it in open sea!" Mei argued.

"No, Naruto is right. Our best chance is to storm the island. Naruto can run diversion with his clones while we head straight for the centre. We don't have the time or resources to come up with any extravagant plan. Our best bet is to attack them while they're unprepared and hope for the best." Haku explained.

"Fine, but what about the Kaima?"

"I have a feeling that we won't have to worry about her."

Xxx

"I still can't you managed to rope me into this" Mei muttered. "just keep quiet. You don't want us discovered do you?" Fu whispered back.

The group were on a medium sized boat. It was just large enough for them and the two Naruto clones that were manning it heading to demon island.

"We're on a rowing boat. In the open sea. In direct view of anyone on the lookout. I'll be surprised if we _aren't_ discovered.

A few moments later, something scraped the bottom of the boat. "we have reached shore" the clone at the steering wheel saluted "thank you for sailing ship Naruto. Good luck on your mission to take down the evil Amachi!" he said before Haku hit the original on the head, making him lose concentration and dispersed the clone. "stop being dramatic Naruto." He scolded.

"but it wasn't even me" Naruto whined. "the clone is made by you and is a part of your chakra. Therefore it is you. Now get ready to run interference."

As soon as they got off the boat Haku took out a sealing scroll and sealed the boat inside. While he was doing that, Naruto put his fingers together into a cross shape **"shadow clone jutsu"** he said. Two hundred puffs of smoke appeared and once the smoke cleared, in its place stood two hundred identical Narutos. "Squad 1-20, circle to the island to the left. Squad 21 – 40 circle the island to the right. Once you meet up, head straight to the centre and do as much damage as possible. The squad 41-49 spread yourselves out and head towards the centre. Trigger as many traps as you can. If you see anything suspicious disperse one of you and secure the area. Squad 50, you're with us. Hide yourselves and keep an eye out for threats. If we engage the enemy, stay back unless you're sure you can finish them without them being able to react."

To the side Fu made her own batch of 20 clones. "five of you head west. Five east. Two north east, two northwest. Five follow Naruto's trap clones. The last one, stay with us and provide cover."

Mei watched the two Jinchuriki make shadow clones as if they were just normal clones. _"using an A-rank forbidden technique like that. Where do they have the chakra? And how are they not even winded from it? Naruto… Fu… what are you?"_

Finished with giving their personal clone attack force instructions, Naruto and Fu turned to look at Haku. "we travel in a straight line formation. I'll be in front. Naruto behind me, Fu behind him and Mei at the back. Let's go."

Xxx

A few minutes of traveling later, Naruto felt one of his clones disperse. "one of my clones had found a staircase just west of here. It seems to be leading underground. Investigating it now."

Haku nodded and silently changed his direction.

Xxx

They arrived just in time for Naruto to feel the clone that went exploring disperse. "the way is clear. No sign of traps."

"Good. Approach with caution. The clones keep guard of the entrance." Haku instructed and started down the stairs.

Xxxx

At the bottom of the stairs was a door slightly ajar. Haku peeked through the gap. It was a reasonably large room that was only lit by torches. He opened it and took a better look around. There were many doors coming from the sides. Some were slight noises of animals, the sea, Haku could even hear some screams of humans. He closed his eyes. No, those screams weren't of humans. Not anymore. They had either gotten experimented on, insane or both. At the far side of the room was a metal door. This one seemed different from the others somehow. He had a feeling that Amachi was in that direction. He placed his ear on the door and listened "…" he frowned and motioned for Naruto. "make clones and disguise them as us" he whispered.

Naruto nodded and discretely made the clones already transformed and sent them into the room. Within moments there was the sound of a leaver being pulled and the clones falling. Naruto turned to Haku. "there are many tubes with bodies in liquid in them. Probably half completed experiments. The fourth block in front of the door is a trap the one who released it was Isaribi."

Haku frowned. "let's go"

They dashed in and took cover on around the tubes, making sure to avoid the trapped tile. They looked around and finally spotted the girl on the other side of the room "Isaribi-" Haku started. Isaribi paused for a second and turned back in surprise. But just as quickly as it came, the surprise wore off as she turned around and pressed a button before closing and locking the door.

There was a loud grinding sound as a section of the wall lifted to reveal two huge monsters. They resembled lions, but were five times bigger and had teeth the size of a kunai.

"we don't have time for this" Mei snarled as she made some handseals **lava style: dissolving jutsu** " she said as she spat out a concentrated flow of acidic mud at the monster's body. Despite its large shape, it was still surprisingly fast on its feet and managed to quickly dodge the acidic mud. It snarled as some of it splashed onto it and melted through its fur. The monster's tail flicked around and smashed one of the tubes. Liquid, unrecognizable body and glass shards flew everywhere, forcing them to split and take cover to avoid being hit by the stray glass.

 **"hidden jutsu: scale powder jutsu"** Fu called from on top of an unbroken tube. The artificial light reflected into the monster's eyes and blinded it.

 **"Water style: glimmering water chains jutsu"** Naruto called from the roof. The fluid released from the tube rose up and formed many chains that bound the monster tightly. It's glowing red eyes glared hatefully at them. **"ice style: coming of winter"** the chains binding it froze and became a prison. "Mei! Fire your jutsu at its face! Haku shouted.

Mei rushed through her handseals faster than she had before **"lava style: dissolving jutsu!"** she shouted and jumped up before shooting a highly pressurized stream of acidic mud straight through the monster. Entering through its head and exiting through its stomach. An instant kill through the brain. She landed on the floor and panted.

Just then, the floor gave away.

Mei had landed on the trap tile.

"Mei! Naruto shouted, diving in after her with Haku and Fu following behind.

Xxx

Mei landed on her feet and quickly dodged Naruto's body before he landed on her "oh my. Diving right in after me without any hesitation. Aren't you just the gentleman." She smirked as Haku and Fu landed next to Naruto.

"ugh. All this mushy mushy stuff makes me sick." A voice said from around a corner. Following it was the same man that fought Haku a few days ago. "oh, you're still alive? I could've sworn I sucked your chakra dry" he smirked at Haku "I'll make sure to finish you off this time."

Naruto pointed his finger at the man "It's you! The one who almost killed Haku!"

The man bowed cockily "Yoroi Akado" he said.

Naruto stepped forward "why you…"

Haku held his arm out and blocked his path. "you go ahead. He caught me unprepared last time. That won't happen again."

Naruto stopped "fine, you better take him down good."

"be careful" Mei said.

"we'll be waiting for you" Fu added as they began running towards the exit.

"not so fas-" Yoroi moved to stop them but was forced to dodge or be impaled by needles. "you want to die that badly? Fine with me!" he shouted as he dashed towards Haku, his hands already glowing in anticipation of sucking out the ice user's chakra.

AN: phew. For the first time in forever (no frozen reference intended) I got this chapter out not only on, but ahead of schedule!

Next chapter will be the conclusion of Isaribi arc! (unless I somehow drag it out even longer…). Now which arc should I do next?

Star village

Snow/spring

Shion

*enter your own arc not on the list*

Hmm other than that… not much really. Same as always. Looking for beta.

The trivia question: it was Yoroi Akado (the guy that sucks chakra and fought Sasuke during chunin exams in canon for those who don't remember). No one got it

Reviews:

AndiDuel: he wasn't exactly _caught_ per se, more like… being helped? Also, yeah that would be interesting, but I'm pretty sure the only thing that would prevent him from dying from the mark would be his plot armour lol

BlackDragonShinigmi: here it is…. Well chapter anyways

Thor94: thanks

Noahendless: thanks

Dinohuntsmen: oh, no wonder I didn't get the reference lol (the translator didn't help either lol)

Jacklvmage12: amazing preview(though I imagine a bit of DB overdose). Isaribi was an experiment in cannon so experiment she shall be lol. Yoroi was basically cannon fodder (that guy who fought sasuke during chunin exams preliminary). The reason he beat Haku so easily was because Haku was caught unprepared and therefore didn't realize his chakra was being sucked before it was too late.

"If you have internet there is a site called_ or something along those lines" ? I think you completely missed the most important word there lol.

Hmm dunno either. Probably some primordial law or another. Welp I guess that's what happens when you don't do your own work! A universe destroyed. I don't want even more paperwork, thank you. This grandpa can't take it. As for the internet…. Well I only get like 4 gigs a month (really not a lot- it is usually finished around halfway through) so that's a problem ^.^ll. Just updating the games would take more than 4 gigs( from what I've been told)


	35. battle of the sea: part 1

Chapter 34

Battle of the sea: part 1

Haku and Yoroi stared each other down. Haku's focused eyes met themselves in the reflection of Yoroi's sunglasses. He smirked. "you only beat me last time because you caught me off guard. Now that I know about your ability, beating you will be a piece of cake."

The fighter's muscles tensed. Yoroi dashed forward, intending on entering another taijutsu battle. Predicting this, Haku quickly jumped back. While in mid-air he was unable to move and Yoroi took advantage of this. In a quick burst of speed, the chakra sucking ninja appeared behind him and held him in an iron bear hug. "it's over"

Haku simply smirked "yes it is"

Before Yoroi could process what he meant, the Haku he was holding suddenly lost all its color and ice began creeping up Yoroi's arms. Yoroi attempted to release his hold but the ice had already frozen his arms together. He could only watch in horror as the ice travelled up the rest of his body and started to turn him into an ice statue.

Within moments both Yoroi and the ice clone crashed into the ground of the cave. Haku stepped out from behind a large rock. "now to find the others"

Xxx

The rest of the Rebel group cautiously travelled through the dimly lit pathway. After a few minutes of walking, they came across a single door. Inside it were more test tubes like the ones with the lion monster earlier. "Welcome. Or should I say nice to finally meet you? Naruto."

Naruto quickly span on around to find a dust brown haired man wearing a faded purple shirt, brown trousers and a lab coat. Next to him was Isaribi. "Amachi." He guessed. "what do you mean finally meet me?"

Amachi smirked "oh I've heard many things about you. One of Orochimaru's most interesting test subjects. He had high expectations of you from what I had heard. When I heard you escaped I was quite surprised, it seemed unlike Orochimaru to let such a fine specimen go. So I came to the conclusion that either someone even stronger than Orochimaru kidnapped you, he lost interest because you were a failure like many others or you somehow were skilled enough to escape. Judging from the rumours, you were travelling with Zabuza Momochi, who, while is a formidable foe, is still not in Orochimaru's league. Even if he was, he isn't the kind of person to go out his way to help some unknown kid. In a _Sanin's_ base no less. So that leaves either you escaped or Orochimaru let you go. Judging by your… lack of tact and well… _everything_ , the most likely answer is that you were allowed to escape."

Externally Naruto was calm, but internally he was shocked that someone knew that much about him. And thinking about some of the things Amachi mentioned, he noticed that he _had_ gotten away too easily. "you seem to know a lot about me" Naruto stated "why are you so interested? I'm sure you don't go around collecting every piece of information on every single escaped lacky or experiment of the snake do you?"

"Oh no. Just you Naruto. Well you and one other. You two interested me, especially you. Possibly the only person alive with both Uzumaki and Hozuki genes that still run strong. Did you know that the Uzumaki were the only clan that existed on an island surrounded by whirlpools and somehow harnessed its destructive power and could use it as a defense? Now imagine if all of those monsters had the Hozuki bloodline. Just imagine. An army of seal masters, master swordsmen, and beasts with insane amounts of stamina and chakra that dwarfs most _Jonin._ Now imagine if you are fighting against them with the Hozuki bloodline. You would be unable to hit them, your attacks would go right through them and you can't run away because they would easily be able to outmatch your stamina. The Uzumaki could've ruled both the land _and_ sea. They could've become the kings of the world! Now Naruto. What do you say? This could be yours! Pledge your allegiance to me and I can make you king! Anything you want would be at your beck and call. Power, information, wealth, women!"

Hearing that Naruto slowly closed his eyes. Thinking he had Naruto caught, Amachi continued. "That's right. You wouldn't have to travel with these… underdeveloped children. You can have the best women of the Elemental nations. All loyal and willing to fulfil your every desire!"

At this, our blond hero's eyes snapped open and slowly took a step.

Seeing this Mei saw red. "so that's the kind of guy you are? Willing to betray your friends for the slightest chance of power? For some flesh? I thought you were different, Naruto. But I guess all men are the same! You should just go back to Orochimaru and die!''

Naruto stopped about a meter away from Amachi. "shut up" he whispered. It was soft, but at that moment it seemed as if even nature stayed silent to hear his words. In a fast, fluid movement, Naruto grabbed a hidden kunai from inside his sleeve and threw it as hard as he could at Amachi who, despite being caught off guard, wasn't a Jonin level shinobi for nothing. He quickly brought his arm up to protect his face. Ignoring the unusual 'clink' as opposed to the kunai sinking in his flesh, the kunai simply bounced off, Naruto appeared inside Amachi's guard and sent him flying into Isaribi a few feet behind him with a kick. Both of them tumbled into the wall of the cave and ended up in a heap of flesh. "it seems you have an answer"

Naruto glared at Amachi who walked out from behind a large boulder while the one he just fought turned into water and drenched Isaribi. "your first mistake was tainting father's name. an honourable man like him… you don't even deserve to speak of him!" Naruto said, dashing towards Amachi. "your second mistake was tarnishing the Uzumaki name! They Uzumaki had no intention of war or to rule the world." Naruto took out a kunai and clashed with Amachi's scalpel. "your third mistake was insulting my friends!" Naruto shouted as he locked his kunai against the scalpel and pushed downwards, disarming Amachi then slashing his kunai, aiming to cut Amachi's jugular. To his surprised, instead of penetrating the soft flesh like he expected, the kunai simply bounced off as if it was steel.

Taking advantage of his surprise, Amachi jumped back and pressed a button that the author just put there for the sake of the plot sometime during the fight.

"well, it's been fun talking to you, and it's a shame you didn't accept my proposal. But I guess that studying the remains of your bodies will still be plenty research." Amachi said as he turned into a puddle of water.

" _substitution!_ " the group realized as they turned to where Isaribi was to find that she was missing as well. Just then Haku barged into the room "This whole place is coming down! The entrance is already blocked!"

Mei stepped forward. "then we'll just have to make out own exit. **Lava style: lava monster jutsu"** she said before spitting out a huge amount of molten lava.

The rest of the group watched in amazement as she focused her chakra and the large puddle of lava shaped itself into a vaguely humanoid golem with glowing rocks for eyes with some lava dripping off and hissing as it hit the ground. The golem charged towards one of the walls and barged right through it, the rocks of the cave melting from the hot temperature. The group of shinobi quickly followed through the golem and passed the still steaming hole.

"how do you know that we're not going deeper into the cave?" Fu shouted over the noise. "I've received training in sensing chakra. I can sense Amachi heading in this direction" Mei shouted back.

"I can smell the sea!" Haku shouted. (How he could smell anything but burning rocks and lava will forever remain a mystery.)

True to Haku's words, within moments they burst out the side of the cave and onto the beach. Mei immediately undid the jutsu and allowed the golem to collapse back into a rapidly cooling puddle of lava. "We're… out" she wheezed with her hands on her knees.

Naruto softly placed his hand on her back "you ok?"

Mei stood up and brushed his hand away "just fine. I don't need the pity from the likes of you" she snarked. Then she spotted Amachi and Isaribi walking towards the sea "There they are! Don't let them reach the sea!" she shouted.

Fu looked at Haku and Naruto. "Go. We'll be right behind you."

The boys looked at each other and nodded. Haku focused his chakra and formed a mirror in front of them. Naruto winced "I really don't like this form of transportation" he said before running headfirst into the ice mirror hovering about a foot off the ground.

Mei opened her mouth to call him out on being an idiot for running _into_ a block of ice but her words died in her throat when instead of running into it and crashing, Naruto disappeared.

Haku started walking towards the mirror when Fu called out "Haku, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid ok?"

Haku looked back "I will. _Someone_ has to make sure he doesn't lose his head right?" he smirked before walking and melting into the mirror.

Mei stared at the mirror for a few seconds in shock with her mouth still open. Soon she was broken out of her trance by the sound of the ice mirror crashing down and breaking into millions of quickly melting ice shards.

Fu watched with a small amount of amusement as Mei's brain rebooted itself. "we live in a world where we walk on water, spit fire, mud, hell you even spit lava yourself, not to mention things like having things larger than a house be able to come out of some ink. Is it really that hard to believe that it is possible to run through a mirror of ice?" she asked with a chuckle. "now close your mouth, you'll attract flies"

The lava user snapped her mouth shut. "you're right. I forgot one of the first thing I was taught. Don't question logic. Logic does not exist in this world"

-somewhere in Konoha-

A young boy with a dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high upturned collar looked up from was he was standing. "someone has insulted logic and denied its existence" he muttered.

-back to the story-

Mei shivered as for some reason she suddenly grew a fear of logical insects crawling all over her but brushed it off. She took a step forward and instantly felt dizzy and leaned against a tree. "are you ok?" Fu asked.

"that lava monster jutsu takes a lot of chakra to maintain, this was the longest I've held it up before" Mei groaned before reaching into her pouch and took out a chakra pill and swallowed it. "lets go"

-with the boys-

Travelling at high speeds may be fun for most. In fact, Naruto was one of the ones who did. Travelling at high speeds in a dark and cold passage where he could not control any direction or see anything at all on the other hand, was not. So it was no surprise that he was a little disorientated when he exited the mirror in a less than graceful fashion.

"uhh" Naruto groaned. "I really don't like that mirror thing Haku does. How does he even stand not being able to see and travelling uncontrollably anyways? Also, how does he always land on his feet when he lands?" he complained. "Speaking of landing… why does this ground keep moving?" he wondered and looked down… to see that he had landed on top of Isaribi. He quickly jumped off and started apologising so quickly the words all mended together.

Isaribi slowly got up, Naruto's words going completely unheard. "PERVERT!" she shouted and slapped him as hard as she could.

Our poor blond hero was send flying in a comical fashion, doing a couple barrel rolls in mid-air before landing back onto the beach with a large angry red handprint on his face.

This was the scene Haku arrived to see. "I leave you alone for 2 minutes and this happens? Really Naruto?" Haku looked at him in disappointment.

"Shut up Haku. It was your mirror portal thing that did this to me." He grumbled and walked back to Haku. "So you going to come out yet? Amachi?"

"it seems you saw through me this time" Amachi, (who had been staying silent not far behind Isaribi) mused and collapsed into a puddle of water while the real Amachi appeared from under the sand. "it appears that you won't stop chasing us until you're dead"

"that's right, you monster. So why don't you just give up and let yourself be killed. I'll even make your death quick and painless" Naruto offered.

"Hahahahaha! So what? At least I'm not a half assed monster like Isaribi" Amachi sneered. "I am…" Amachi's muscles tensed before his lab coat and pants ripped open to reveal his green scaly skin and webbed feet, his eyes turned into pure red ruby orbs and his face started to morph and grow green scales and fin-like protrusions "… a complete, modified battle version!"

AN: what? Two weeks have passed? I'm due to update the story? Gotta type fast!

Those were literally my thoughts when I looked at the date. It seems that with all the studying I have for the upcoming exams (Monday to be exact) I lost track of time. And speaking of that, I will be unable to post for possibly the most (if not whole) of july.

Now besides my sad school life, I have also thought up with a few things I would be addressing.

First, is that since ZV is busy (and AWOL) and I'm not good with portraying Mei, I would like to ask you loyal readers if you would still like for Mei to be paired up with Naruto or someone else.

Second, many of you have asked about how the Chunin exams will be different because of Naruto not being there.

My answer: it will be a _normal_ chunin exams (preliminaries and third round and all going like normal chunin exams). Meaning that no Orochimaru giving little boys hickys. My reasoning is that he went there for an Uchiha to have a sharingan. But since he already knows Naruto has a sharingan, this means that he doesn't need to risk himself to get the Uchiha bloodline. After all, he has one of an Uchiha, Uzumaki _and_ Hozuki.

And yes, Gaara will take part in the exams, but will not go Shukaku because of reasons I will reveal much later.

Before you ask, I will not show the chunin exams (mainly because it doesn't really involve the Mist rebels) and they will not be entering into it (because… rebels). But I _might_ make a passing mention about what happened during the exams on a mission or something(who made chunin, how great/bad it was. Stuff like that)

And finally the last issue I would like to address. Reviewer Wyrtha brought up some nice points so another possible change will be the removal of the snow/spring arc. I will add a Raiga encounter/recovery mission (I really need better naming skills) in its place. This will take place (likely) as the arc after this one and followed by whichever gets voted in.

So all in all, there are polls going now.

1) Should Mei still end up with Naruto(yes/no)

2) Continue snow/spring arc?(yes/no)

3) What arc should be next (after Raiga)

Current standings are:

Snow/spring(if it is voted in):2

Star: 2

Shion: 1

blood prison (still under debation for later stage) 2

ps: I didn't have the leaf nin here (and consequently Anko) because they weren't given a mission here (this is around a week or so before the chunin exams as opposed to like a month after. So the mission differs from cargo protection by the leaf nin and is an assassination mission for the rebels instead)

Reviews:

BlackDragonShinigami: if blood prison goes through, it'll be sometime much later (probably after the five kage summit like canon)

Zeus501: Yes he was originally in the demon island arc. And I can't find a good place to show the stuff in Leaf, basically just canon minus Naruto chaos…. so normal life without every other mission going wrong.

AndiDuel: your vote has been reocorded

Thor94: just a small one here. The next one will be the main battle.

Noahendless: well that would impact the story a bit too much xD though it's a nice idea that can be expanded on.

Jacklvmage12: its 3 pm as I'm typing this so most of my creative juices have been used up already. So in order of your paragraphs… counted your vote, yup, lol, yup having a universe destroyed will do that, yes a huge upgrade (still wanting for that uncapped…) and finally extremely late good night xD

Wyrtha: I admit, you raised some good points, but if I don't use these arcs, I would be jumping straight to fighting Yagura, and I don't want Naruto to suddenly jump from low-jonin to kage level. And your idea with Raiga is a nice one! Finally, I chose not to have Anko because she isn't needed here. Last I checked she only went because she was the only Jonin (special or not) on hand and the Leaf needed the mission to rebuild after the CE attack. (she is preparing for CE now… well that or eating dango)


	36. battle of the sea: part 2

Chapter 35

Battle of the sea part 2

Xxxx

Naruto's blue eyes glared balefully at Amachi's solid red orbs. "Haku, Fu, take down Isaribi as fast as you can. I'll stall Amachi for as long as I can. Mei, support me." Naruto ordered.

Haku and Fu paused for the barest of moments. The fact that Naruto said he'd _stall_ Amachi _with_ Mei was not lost to any of them. Naruto was one of their strongest fighters, his clones, sword skills and his sharingan helped him win 70% of their all-out 2v1 spars. Numbers meant nothing to the one-man army.

Not to mention he had Mei who, despite being almost completely exhausted from maintaining the lava monster Jutsu long enough to get them out, was no pushover either.

Haku nodded and focused his chakra. " **Ice style: ice grenade** " he muttered as his chakra condensed into a ball roughly the size of his hand "be careful Naruto. Something tells me that he isn't the type who just has a transformation and expects to win every battle with it" he said as the threw the ball.

Naruto closed his eyes "then let's release the seals" he whispered just before the ice grenade hit the sand between Isaribi and Amachi and erupted into spikes as the two jumped away.

Naruto and Mei vs Amachi

As soon as Haku had started making his ice grenade Mei took out a chakra pill and swallowed it. Ignoring the disgusting flavour, Mei focused on the chakra that was rushing back. It was only temporary but it'll have to do. She tracked the trajectory of the ice grenade and focused on the way Amachi's body leaned and how much his legs tensed. The lava user then focused her chakra and formed a small glob of her element and aimed at the apex of Amachi's jump. It wasn't a very taxing move, more of a chakra control exercise than anything, but it was still effective if aimed right.

Unfortunately for her, Amachi noticed the small blob of flying lava and brought his hand up to block it.

Mei frowned and focused on Amachi's webbed hand and saw a layer of chakra coating it " _chakra scalpel_ " she realized "Naruto! He's a combat medical nin. Don't let him hit you! He can sever your muscles with just a touch!" she shouted in alarm.

Said medical nin looked at her in mild surprise "impressive. Discovering my technique just by seeing me block a bullet of lava. However..." Amachi landed and shot out scales from his back, hitting Naruto, who was just about to impale him with a sword, point blank. Naruto smirked as he swung his sword down, slicing a thin line down Amachi's back "boom" he whispered.

The shock of his scaled hide being penetrated so easily prevented him from jumping away from the suicide bombing clone and was consequently flung back from the explosion. Of course being a jonin level medical nin meant that this was easily as recoverable as simply righting his trajectory and landing back on his feet. Again he held up a chakra coated hand, this time to deflect a jab from Naruto's sword. "not bad kid" he smirked as he deflected another stab "not that good either" he shouted and in a burst of speed knocked Naruto's sword out his hand and kicked him in his stomach… or tried to. Amachi's eyes widened when he saw that somehow Naruto had managed to react in time and caught his foot. It was then that Naruto lifted his head and for the first time in the fight, Amachi noticed the blue sharingan with two tomoe in each of Naruto's eyes.

Haku and vs Isaribi

Unlike Amachi, Isaribi was not trained ninja and therefore not suited for direct confrontations with them, so she did the sensible thing and jumped into the sea to avoid the ice grenade. Inside the sea, her speed was boosted and any weapon thrown would be slowed down by the liquid. The sea also had the additional advantage of allowing her to remain hidden while her exposed opponents searched for her. What she didn't expect was for Haku to stop by the edge of the water and call her.

"Isaribi! You _know_ that Amachi is using you" Haku called. "look at him! He used you as a test subject to _complete_ the transformation. He had no intention of turning you back!"

"Shut up!" Isaribi screamed as her head came out the sea and shot a cannon of water at Haku, which was promptly stopped by a block of ice.

"Why do you still side with him?" Haku asked as he allowed the ice block to collapse.

"Because… even if there is only a slight chance…. It's the only chance I've got at turning back" Isaribi looked down "you have no idea what it is like to be a monster-"

"-shunned by the villagers"

"-hated for something out of your control"

"right?" Haku and Fu asked at the same time.

"We've been there too Isaribi. I, myself am more of a monster than you'll ever be" Fu said, unconsciously placing her hand under her right collarbone "but we got past that. You can too"

"aww, what a touching story… makes me want to throw up" a scathing voice said behind them and sent Haku flying with a kick.

"Haku!" Fu and unexpectedly Isaribi shouted at the same time.

"tch. Stupid brat would've killed me if I hadn't coated myself with chakra at the last second" Yoroi sneered and turned to Isaribi "and you, useless traitor. You were thinking about joining them weren't you? I knew Amachi should've killed you when he was done with you, 3 months ago"

Xxxx

Naruto and Mei vs Amachi

"sharingan" Amachi muttered in realization before he was thrown by his foot. He landed a fair distance away on the water and stood up laughing "no _wonder_ Orochimaru let you go! An Uzumaki, Hozuki _and_ Uchiha! With that blood, there is a nearly sure chance you'll survive on your own! Leaving you in his little lab would be a waste. If he wanted to master all the jutsu, why not let his little experiment run wild and gather all the jutsu he could before he was powerful enough to be the perfect body! Why waste perfectly good experiments on someone that would benefit minutely when they could just send him out and do grow stronger himself?" Amachi rambled on "Orochimaru may be a sick bastard, but he certainly is a snake! Manipulating people without them knowing it so perfectly…" the mad scientist looked at Naruto "and it probably would have worked too… if you didn't meet me"

Amachi brought his hand up and sliced it on one of his sharp teeth "come out, Sea Boss! **Summoning jutsu"** he shouted, slamming his hand onto the sea surface. The two Mist Rebel shinobi watched warily as some sort of liquid started traveling from where Amachi slammed his hand down. It was transparent and easy to miss, but it was also unmistakably denser and …. Milkier than the normal sea water. It travelled a small distance away and started to rise up to form a… giant blob of water that looked humanoid only because of the slight indents on its surface.

"Naruto!" Mei shouted in warning just a second too late. Naruto only had time to look back before Amachi's clone kicked him into the sea. Mei could only watch helplessly on the sideline as Naruto ducked and weaved between the giant moving blob's arms. The lava user gritted her teeth before pausing and smacked herself. " _I am an experienced Rebel ninja. I should not be standing here like an idiot. I should not have FORGOTTEN that I am not useless. I SHOULD NOT have forgotten that there is still an enemy who happens to be the summoner"_ met berated herself and prepared lowered her stance to jump to where Amachi was standing on the water.

Xxxx

Fu vs Yoroi

"3 months?" Isaribi repeated in shock. "I've been used for 3 months"

*flashback*

"you don't really think I would just use you, do you Isaribi?" asked Amachi

*flashback end*

"yes you would" Isaribi whispered to herself.

"now I'm going to correct that mistake of letting you live…" said Yoroi, taking a step forward before leaning back and dodging a thrown kunai "but first it seems I'll have to take care of someone else first" he continued before turning his body and shooting himself at Fu.

Fu ducked and weaved between Yoroi's arms and went over what she knew " _he's average height, average grappler weight, mainly focuses on sucking opponent's chakra through contact. He may be exhausted from fighting Haku earlier but its likely he had taken a soldier pill to negate that."_ Fu thought to herself. Any attempt she would make to try get distance was useless as he would close in before she could make any hand seals. A quick test proved that shadow clones were useless as he could just forcefully take some of its chakra and make it dispel from being unstable. "Stop chasing me you paedophile!" Fu shouted in frustration before getting a risky idea. The next time she landed, instead of jumping backwards again, she jumped straight into Yoroi and delivered a crushing uppercut to his chin knocking his shades off and jumped back before he could capture her. " _step one complete"_ she thought. "Step two" Fu kicked up the sand straight into Yoroi's now unprotected eyes and blinded him for a few seconds. It was a few seconds more than she needed " **Hidden jutsu: hiding in scale powder jutsu** " she said and blew out a cloud of sparkling dust that encompassed Yoroi. As soon as he got the sand out his eyes, he opened his eyes wide to show his bloodshot eyes and proceeded to get blinded by the sunlight reflected off the special powdered dust. "Aargg" he screamed.

"this is the end of you" Fu muttered and ignited the powder with a pulse of chakra.

Yoroi was engulfed in a huge explosion which was so bright it made Isaribi dive under water to protect herself.

"ha" Fu panted "that'll keep you down". She had put a little more power in that jutsu that normal and increased the amount of explosive dust. Fu took a deep breath "now…"

"Naruto!" Fu heard Mei shout and turned around to see Naruto being kicked out to sea where a large… blob of water was waiting. The jinchuriki was about to run off to help when she felt a hand grab her foot and chakra being sucked out of her. She turned around to where the cloud of sand cleared to reveal… burnt sand. Fu's eyes widened as she was dragged down until only her head was above the sand. She looked up to see Yoroi's smirking face as his hand reached down for her head "I win"

AN: good news! And more good news!

Good news: I'm finally done with exams!

More good news: my computer has been fixed! And no data was lost! Woopee!

In celebration, I have an entire chapter of fights! Now, I am not very good at them so if there are any suggestions I'll be willing to listen.

In this chapter we see that Naruto can activate his sharingan (and it only has 2 tomoe because he hasn't been practicing with it that much). Amachi has summoned the Sea Boss, Fu is out of chakra, Haku is KO, Isaribi is conflicted and Mei is… forgetting that she can still fight. This arc will be wrapped up next chapter and after that there will be a small training filler (maybe a chapter or two) followed by the Raiga arc.

The votes:

Should Mei still end up with Naruto- 9 yes, 0 no

Continue snow/spring arc? – 5 yes, 0 no

What arc should be next ( I think I got misinterpreted here, Raiga arc _will_ be next, I just meant after the Raiga arc. Also blood prison _will_ be shuppiden (and that I am still seeing if I can make it flow into the story))

Snow/spring 2

Star: 2

Shion: 2

blood prison (still under debation for later stage) 3

That's basically everything…. Still need a beta

Reviews:

Guest 1,2,3 and Guest Twirl: maybe it's just coincidence that the three of you voted for the same thing on the same day… none the less your votes have been recorded.

Winter Arctica: I suppose. And your vote has been recorded

Zeus501: votes recorded… except the last one. That wouldn't work because Raiga is next and I'm only planning to defeat Yagura around a year before shuppiden…. So 3 years difference. The fillers were meant to fill in the 3 years timeskip.

BlackDragonShinigami: vote recorded, and no I'm not doing Ryuzetsu… I already have my hands full with characters that aren't very developed and are almost never seen…

AndiDuel: Mei flirts with everyone… except for Ao…I think. Votes recorded, thanks for reading

Noahendless: oops, I must've missed it when I double checked for red lines… I blame the programme's lack of anime knowledge and having a bunch of red lines from just names alone. I've fixed it now.

Jacklvmage12: yeah! Kick his ass!... actually I could write that, being the author and all… as for Shion loving him… I'm pretty sure that asking to have his babies was a good enough hint she did?

(lol is there even any more OP we could get?)

Well I got _some_ internet….

Effectivesage: thanks :D and your votes have been recorded


	37. battle of the sea: conclusion

Chapter 36

Battle of the sea conclusion

Amachi watched smugly as the blond ninja struggle against the constant onslaught of the Sea boss. Nobody escaped from him, least of all in the middle of the sea. The medical nin's red orbs glanced to the side and lazily raised his arm to block a fury of shuriken. "Marvel at my creation! Made up of 99% water. Any physical attacks will go right through him and if it somehow _does_ connect, Umibozu will simply regenerate it. Since we're in the middle of the sea, I don't need to spell it out for you do I?

Mei clenched her teeth. If what he said was true then the Sea Boss could regenerate faster than Naruto could deal damage and judging by the fact it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon Mei suspected that it wasn't a normal summon that Naruto, even with his boundless stamina wouldn't be able to outlast. But still…

"If you can't take out the summon, take out the summoner!" Mei shouted " **Lava style: piercing lance"** she shouted and spat out a single line of condensed lava.

Amachi barely dodged the attack and prevented himself from getting impaled on a burning lava lance. "Impressive jutsu. If I was hit with that I doubt even my scales would save me."

"tch" Mei muttered "I had hoped that was enough to finish him off." Truthfully out on the open sea she was at a huge disadvantage. Her best jutsu were lava and steam based. Being on sea meant that she had no place to set up lava puddles for traps and being in the open meant that her steam attacks were weakened considerably by the constant wind and the large area for Amachi to dodge. Her water jutsu were all but useless since they were weak and with Amachi being a sea monster hybrid thing he was probably near immune to all but the strongest ones.

The bloodline wielder took a check on her reserves, even with the chakra pill she took her reserves were just under half full. She sweated. This wasn't going to be an easy fight.

Suddenly a shout of surprise caught her attention. She turned around in time to see Naruto get hit by the Umibozu and stunned long enough for it to grab him. Mei watched in horror as Naruto struggled while the Sea Boss brought him to its mouth.

"Naruto!" she screamed as the ninja was swallowed whole.

Xxxx

With Naruto

Xxxx

Naruto ducked and weaved between the tentacles of the Summon, occasionally cutting a few with his sword to prevent himself from getting trapped. He could feel his strength waning and his movements slowing down. A flash of light caught his attention for a second and he turned around to see Mei spit out a long line of lava and almost hit Amachi. That moment of distraction cost him as a small wave hit him and knocked him off balance. The Umibozu took advantage of this and swung his large arm, knocking Naruto down. He tried to struggle but for a being made up of water it had a surprisingly strong grip. The last thing Naruto heard before he was swallowed was Mei calling his name.

Xxxx

Fu tried to struggle in Yoroi's grip as he sucked all the chakra out of her. Her strength started fading and she could feel the last of her chakra fading. Her vision started going black when the Yoroi's hand was abruptly removed. Fu opened her eyes and blinked to see a hand land on the ground next to her head and Haku standing where Yoroi was"

"AARGGG" Yoroi shouted a distance away "I'll kill you!"

Fu turned her head higher to see Haku staring at Yoroi with Kubikiribocho on his shoulder and blood dripping off the tip. She then looked to where Yoroi was holding the stub of his hand and glaring at them hatefully. Suddenly his chakra spiked and breathed in a large amount of air before exhaling a large wave of fire.

Fu's eyes widened. An unfocused attack with that much chakra, Fu doubted they could survive it in their weakened state. " _am I going to die here? Stuck in a beach? CHAKRA EXHUASTED AGAINST A NORMAL NINJA OF ALL THINGS? NO! I REFUSE!"_ She felt a rush of burning hot chakra and exploded from the sand and swiped her arm in front of her and sent a shockwave that cancelled the wave of fire.

Haku dashed through the opening and bisected Yoroi "no, we'll kill you"

Fu pulled her arm back and took a deep breath and felt the Nanabi's chakra recede back inside the seal and was instantly hit with a wave of exhaustion much stronger than before. The jinchuriki glanced at her fellow container trapped inside the Umibozu "It's all up to you now Naruto"

Xxxx

 _Darkness. Cold. Alone._

 _"You are my children"_ Zabuza, father.

 _"I'm not a fem-boy!"_ Haku, brother.

 _"you two are idiots!"_ Fu, sister.

Naruto opened his eyes and peered into the darkness "am I dead?" he asked as he floated around. It was a weird sensation, seeing but not seeing. He could _feel_ he was moving, but everything was so dark he could see nothing.

Suddenly a light appeared ahead. Naruto reached for it, anything was better than just floating around. But just reaching for it felt… _wrong_. Like he wasn't supposed to. Then he felt a spike of chakra. _Demonic_ chakra. _Familiar_ chakra.

"Fu!" Naruto realized. "Fu's in trouble! I can't die yet!" Naruto shouted, pulling his hand back and felt a sensation of falling.

Xxx

Naruto's eyes shot open and tried to gasp for air but only got a lungful of water. He took a look around and realized he was trapped inside the Sea Boss. He tried to swim towards air but no matter how hard he tried he still seemed to be in the same place. He gritted his teeth and tried to calm down and think. It was easier said than done considering that he had his lungs full of water and his vision was going dark again. Somehow he knew that he wouldn't wake up this time.

Naruto closed his eyes, circulated some chakra into his lungs to break down some of the water into oxygen and steadied his heartbeat. He looked over everything he knew. He was running out of air inside a summon made completely out of…. Water.

 _"Be calm and go with the flow. Do not try to resist it. Water does not stay in a single shape or form. Feel the water to be the water."_ Mangetsu's voice echoed.

"I am a Hozuki. I should not be afraid of water" Naruto muttered and focused his chakra into his arm, watching in amazement as it started to feel like jelly and turn transparent before completely disappearing into water. He tried to call it back and instantly saw his shoulder stretch like rubber back into the shape of his arm. He flexed his fingers to see they still functioned perfectly. "my turn" Naruto grinned, collapsing his whole body into water.

His liquid body didn't see. Liquid simply didn't have enough complexity to make ocular nerves, Naruto wasn't even sure how he even felt anything. But he did. Even without eyes he could "see" more like feel where everything was. He knew that everything had a weakness and there _had_ to be something giving this summon thought capability and its shape. His whole body was spread out which increased his range and eventually he found the power source. A small orb of chakra located in its stomach area.

Naruto focused on his body (or what he assumed was a part of it) that lied closest to it and within moments he marvelled at the hydrofication technique. Not only did he manage to travel through water, it appears that when he fully formed he was granted a full breath of air meaning he now had air instead of water instead of his lungs now!

Naruto smirked and raised his hands and formed a cross sign. Since it was water, his speed was severely reduced and he could already feel the huge drain on his reserves for trying to stay in liquid state for such a small amount of time. That meant that he was currently running on about 1/10th of his full capacity and he had no doubt that he wouldn't survive turning into water again. Having said that, the five shadow clones he formed slowly floated to where the orb was and placed their hands on the golden katana by their waist. " **one-slash** "

A bright light flooded the body of the Umibozu before it exploded violently and threw Naruto in the direction of the beach already losing consciousness. " _I did it"_ Naruto thought as he was caught by Haku "you never cease to amaze us Naruto".

Haku glanced in the direction of Mei who took advantage of Amachi's shock in having Naruto just dissolve and appear by the Umibozu's core and systematically destroy it with 5 shadow clones and a sword. The lava user coated her hand in her element and pierced Amachi's heart from the back, melting most of his chest and torso but leaving his head untouched.

Xxxxx

3 days later

The group of five stopped outside of Daisuke's mansion and Mei rang the doorbell. Like last time they came, the same middle-aged man appeared "welcome, Daisuke-sama has been expecting you" he said and lead them to Daisuke's office and knocked on the door "Daisuke-sama. The shinobi you hired have returned"

"show them in" the same deep and smooth answered.

Just like last time, Daisuke sat behind his mahogany table with shoulder length black hair tied into a ponytail. He wore the same small pair of reading glasses and the same trimmed moustache and short triangular beard. "welcome back. Judging by the large explosion I heard 3 days ago I trust the request has been completed?" he greeted.

Haku stepped forward and presented a scroll "it has. We apologise if we disturbed your work. Inside here is the head of Amachi, a jonin-level medical ninja who had worked under Konoha's S-ranked missing ninja Orochimaru of the Sanin. It was either or both who were responsible for the kidnapping of the children three years ago."

"I see," Daisuke said and turned to the bandaged girl "and I believe this must be Isaribi? It's nice to finally meet you"

Isaribi was slightly taken back anyone would say those words to her but managed to quickly recover her composure "nice to meet you too Daisuke-sama." She bowed.

Daisuke nodded and took clapped his hands twice. Within moments a guard walked in with a case "your payment, as promised."

Naruto made a clone who opened the case "clear" he said before dispelling.

Fu bowed "just a precaution Daisuke-sama. It would be such a shame if one of us died from a hidden trap after we've completed out mission." she explained as Haku went about sealing the case into a much smaller and travel-friendly scroll.

The magnet just laughed and waved it off "no worries, it was the smart thing to do"

Haku walked back to join the group and they bowed "thank you for your business. Feel free to contact us again" they said at the same time.

Xxxx

At the rebel camp

"moving around like this is so annoying" Naruto complained while they walked to the debriefing tent. "first go to the last camp site you were at, then look for clues to where the next site is through a special whistle seal that signals a special hawk."

"remember, its not just any whistle seal or hawk. It's Ryuji-sama's special bloodline. He makes corporal objects that can instantly relay information to him. This prevents spies from finding the new position with an army of Loyalists." Mei lectured before stopping in front of the tent. "team Zabuza returning from land of Sea assassination." The guards nodded and let them in.

A long debriefing later (when _aren't_ they long?)

The group exited the tent to find their sensei waiting. Suzuno and Hibiki smiling at their students while Mangetsu had his arms crossed.

Naruto gulped, already knowing that Mangetzu knew what he did. The older man unfolded his arms and walked up to Naruto, looking into his eyes before hitting him on his head "you idiot. I told you not to try it when near a large body of water, and what do you do? You do it anyways! Be glad you have such a large pool of chakra!

Naruto nodded and bowed his head. Before widening his eyes when he felt Mangetsu place his hand on it "I'm glad you're safe. But now I'm going to be even harsher on your training!" he declared.

"Yes Sensei!"

AN: aaaannddd ddooooonnneeeeee! Naruto unlocked his hydrofication jutsu and defeated water by being water. HA. Why fight fire with fire when you can fight water with water?

This demon island arc is officially done. Next will be a small training filler (maybe a chapter or two) followed by the Raiga arc.

The votes:

Should Mei still end up with Naruto- 9 yes, 0 no

Continue snow/spring arc? – 5 yes, 0 no

What arc should be next ( I think I got misinterpreted here, Raiga arc _will_ be next, I just meant after the Raiga arc. Also blood prison _will_ be shuppiden (and that I am still seeing if I can make it flow into the story))

Snow/spring 2

Star: 2

Shion: 2

blood prison (still under debation for later stage) 3

basically the same as last chapter… Still need a beta

Reviews:

Tsukoblue: could be but then there's waaaaay too many changes (them being in/from Mist/Waterfall for one)

Zeus501: woops, it should be fixed now

Thor94: haaaiiii

BlackDragonShinigami: 0.o my memory is a bit foggy but in which way did they copy them again? You mean the part when Ryuzetsu went and sacrificed herself to bring back Naruto?

RH-Excalibur: bro I ain't adding anyone. I wanted Fu and I did Mei cause my original collab writer wanted Mei… I'm still trying to find a personality for Mei.

Jacklvmage12: Amachi isn't exactly OP AF, more like just BS powered up (like all anime bosses…).

Haku was still tired from the previous fights, didn't have insane stamina like the jinchuriki, didn't take a chakra pill like Mei and Yoroi caught him unprepared, basically this was bound to happen.

As you can see in this chapter, Amachi ain't gonna get no character development lol.

Yes I think Haku needs some upgrades too, but he just had so little screentime I'm not sure what else to add until much later.

Fu… is Fu. Gonna need to remember to make her use the sword of thunder god sometime…

Naruto…. Is just Naruto with education and some proper training.

Lol I haven't actually watched the whole Shion arc, I plan to soon though.

(we just degraded from OP god modding to trying to figure out the next level to mod to….)

Lol my internet is…usable. Just my area is near some signal blocking rocks (I think) so it varies between unable to receive messages and streaming HD youtube.

Effectivesage: thank you. I was aiming for a different approach than normal ^.^


	38. training again

Chapter 37

Training

Water, calm and unmoving. The epitome of tranquility. Water never fights, yet today it did.

Two streams of water flew across the lake. They crossed each other again and again. If one looked close enough, they would be able to see a small glinting of steel whenever they met before diving back under the surface. The surface bubbled and churned, obscuring the vision of anyone who would look under, but if they could see past the foam and kicked up dirt, they would see that the battle was not only above the water, but under as well.

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. The unknown son of Konoha's Red Hot Habanero and Yellow Flash. His sharingan eyes blended almost perfectly with the water and allowed him to almost predict his opponent's moves.

Almost.

A drill of water appeared almost instantaneously in front of him spinning and heading straight for his chest. Naruto's half liquid body moved just a second too late and the drill tore through his arm.

Naruto only showed a slight look of discomfort as his arm grew back from the surrounding water. He turned around to come face to face with his sensei.

Mangetsu Hozuki. Arguably the most talented member of the seven ninja swordsman and said to have mastered every one of the seven swords. He allowed his body to fully reform in the water and crossed his arms before smirking, showing his sharp pointed teeth. "Still too slow Naruto" his voice echoed though the water.

Said ninja merely bowed his head in defeat. "But you lasted much longer this time," Naruto's head snapped up "good work. Now let's head back. We'll take a small break then see if your sealing has progressed as well as your hydrofication technique."

Naruto beamed at the older ninja and let his body turn back to liquid. Within moments he was walking back onto shore where Mangetsu was waiting with lunch already laid out. Both were dry without a drop of water on them.

Xxxxx

In another section of the forest

If Naruto and Mangetsu's battle was to be described as water verses water, Haku and Hibiki's battle could be called ice verses iron. Everywhere they fought ice spikes could be seen protruding from tree branches, trunks, even each other. As long as there was a surface, Haku's ice could grow from it.

However, under Saito's blade, the ice was either sliced, diced, or straight out shattered. Saito came from a family where his mother was a former ninja and his father was a civilian (not unlike Haku) but unlike Haku, Saito's father knew about his wife being a bloodline user and they both died protecting him. His mother came from a clan that was very similar to the Higurashi but instead of being forgers and crafters, they took the crafted work and remolded it to suit their needs. Their bloodline used their chakra to change the properties of the metal so something as small and light as a dagger can instantly be changed to a katana or even a broadsword.

This leads us to where we are now.

Haku swung Kibikiribocho, a thing trail of vapor following it. The giant cleaver clashed against a kunai transformed broadsword and ice quickly traveled down towards Saito who quickly abandoned his weapon and jumped back.

With the sudden loss of resistance Kibikiribocho swung down and got embedded deep into the earth. For a second Haku lost his balance but as an experienced ninja that second was all that was needed. He dashed towards Haku and swept his feet from under him. Saito rested his club on Haku's chest "you're relying too much on the weight of Kibikiribocho to break through defenses. What made Zabuza a master of this sword was that he would use the weight to swing himself and increase the power of his hits. You do it too sometimes.

Haku's eyes widened and remembered what Zabuza said to Naruto when he had him learn about the sword. " _Work with the blade, not against it"_ Haku raised his hand and let gravity take control and slap himself in the face. "and I was laughing at Naruto then too" he groaned. "he will never let me live this down if he hears about it"

Xxxx

In yet another section of the forest

Unlike the boy's fights where there was chaos everywhere, Fu and Suzuno's battlefield remained mostly intact. Two shadows dashed around where kunai flew in every direction, creating the illusion that there were more than two in battle. These were in fact traps.

Suzuno Kamazuki came from a civilian family where her father used to be a Suna puppeteer. He taught her how to manipulate puppets by connecting chakra strings to them and using the strings to act like nerves to make the puppet an extension of the body.

Suzuno couldn't help but smirk as she reached to fasten the last knot on her trap. Just then her honed instincts screamed at her to move and she quickly drew her hand back and abandoned the trap. Just in time to see Fu drop down with the Sword of the Thunder God impaled on the tree branch she stood moments ago.

Fu quickly stood up and made a handseal "going to take a page out of Naruto's book here" she said " **water clone jutsu"**. She said and spat out a seven globs of water around Suzuno, each of the clones wielding a copy of the Raijin. The clones all jumped at Suzuno and swung their swords.

Fu covered her eyes to protect herself from the blinding flash. When she removed her hand she was shocked to see all her clones impaling each other with Suzuno standing in the middle completely unharmed.

Suzuno wiggled her fingers "chakra strings" she smirked. "useful for many situations like…" she jerked her fingers and Fu flew towards Suzuno _"my body is moving by itself"_ Fu gasped and tried to struggle. She landed on the ground next to the puppeteer who held a kunai to her throat "capturing people who don't know how to resist it." Suzuno finished.

Xxxxx

Haku walked out the food tent with Isaribi tailing behind him. His sharp eyes easily spotting the blond and mint green hair of his teammates and headed towards them.

"My arms are killing me" Haku moaned as he sat down next to them. "Sparring with someone who can literally change something as light as a kunai into a broadsword huuuurrtsss".

The other two members of team Zabuza laughed at his misfortune. It wasn't often they saw him so…. Childish.

Fu took a bite out of her bread "Suzuno-sensei isn't as much of a slave driver; she prefers to focus more on the planning aspects." Haku and Naruto nodded in agreement. Sometimes they even joke that Suzuno is there to help them rest their body after training with Mangetsu and Hibiki. "What about you Naruto?"

Naruto rubbed his arm, one of the many parts of his body that had gotten torn apart in the water sparring. "I slowly getting used to having my body torn apart" he joked.

Haku snorted "I've got to admit, I'm slightly jealous of you Naruto. With that hydrofication technique you have, it's going to be much harder to land a hit on you now, never mind winning a battle against you, not to mention you can pass yourself off as a water clone now."

Isaribi watched on the sidelines as the ninja talked about their training. Her, only having some basic shinobi training, having a hard time believing some of the things that they were talking about.

"It's like an ultimate defense" Fu piped up

"Ultimate defense… where have I heard that before…." Naruto mused, "oh yeah! You guys remember Gaara? The one from Suna with the automatic sand"

Fu swallowed "oh yeah the crazy Jinchuriki of the one tails. His teammate was going on and on about how no one has ever penetrated it."

"I remember him too. The look on their faces was priceless. Of course Gaara nearly turning into the one tails wasn't as funny."

Naruto nodded "he seemed calmer when we parted though"

The group sat in silence and finished their meals "he was a genin right?" Naruto asked. "I think so" Fu answered.

"Then he should be going to the chunin exams soon" Naruto continued

"He could have gotten a field promotion" Haku pointed out

"And even if he didn't you wouldn't be going" Mei said from behind them "the exams are held in the Leaf this time and we have nothing to do with them. Not to mention that we, as the rebels cannot afford to have our forces doing things like watching the chunin exams."

Naruto turned around and held up his hands "we weren't planning on going, just talking about a friend who might be"

"A friend from Suna? You must have some interesting travels" Mei mused and leaned against a tree.

"Oh you have no idea" Naruto laughed "like there was this time when Haku…" the five spent the rest of the night telling tales of their adventures. Team Zabuza telling about their time on the run, Isaribi about how it was being an ordinary civilian before she was kidnapped and Mei about her time in the academy. Each side learned a lot about the other, having living almost exactly what the other hadn't.

Xxxxx

A pair of pale yellow eyes, reminiscent to that of a snake, opened and glowed in the darkness. It looked down at the figure kneeling before him, its sharp eyesight noting every twitch and every bead of sweat running down his face. "Report." The voice was silky smooth with a sharp edge to it. The kneeling figure knew without a doubt that the man in front of him could kill him before he could even realize it.

"Amachi of the hideout in the Land of Sea has been killed. Along with him, the base and all research on creating the perfect sea warrior, the Kaima, has been destroyed."

"And who was it that offed Amachi?" the shadowed figure drawled with a slightly dangerous tone. He might not care for that particular brand of experimenting anymore but he still didn't like it when anyone raises a hand against him, directly or indirectly.

"It was a group of Mist rebels, Orochimaru-sama. From what I could gather, one of them could use ice-style, one of them could use lava-style, one of them could turn his body into water an proficient in using clones and water-style ninjutsu, the last one…" the kneeling figure hesitated "my sources say she had an… unnatural chakra. It was as if it was alive and contained emotions of hate and anger"

"A Jinchuriki" Orochimaru muttered. A second later the kneeling figure toppled over with a kunai embedded in his skull. "The one that can turn his body into water is no doubt a Hozuki or a Hozuki descendent. There are only three of those that I know of and one of them is in this hideout. That leaves two of them. Judging by the lack of any mention of the seven swords I doubt it's Mangetsu. Kukukukuku" the snake Sanin chuckled "Naruto. You are becoming more and more interesting. Two Jinchuriki, one ice and one lava bloodline user. It's no surprise that Amachi lost."

Orochimaru snapped his fingers and a figure instantly appeared kneeling. Completely ignoring his dead predecessor next to him. "Dig up every piece of information you can on a lava bloodline user, ice bloodline user, female Jinchuriki and Naruto. They are all part of the rebel faction in the Mist civil war."

AN: to be honest I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. As you can probably notice many parts are slightly shaky and don't flow well. But atlas, I'm already a week late and I cannot keep my loyal amazing fans any longer!

Next chapter will be the start of the Raiga arc.

After that will be…? (vote)

1\. Snow/Spring 3

2\. Star 2

3\. Shion 2

Some of you readers have been asking questions like "will they be joining the chunin exams" and "if they don't the leaf would be screwed with nobody stopping Gaara during the invasion"

In this chapter I have shown that

yes, they have met (and defeated) Gaara. This calmed him down so no, he will not be going Shukaku at being hurt.

No they will not be going to chunin exams (explanation in chapter)

Reviews:

Guest: thanks

Zeus501: *grabs cookie from midair and eats it* still not as good as the ones from the dark side.

Turn back to chapter 27 if you want to reference. Naruto is still the son of Minato and Kushina. He is Hozuki from his mother's side and he got his sharingan from *censored due to spoilers*

Tsukoblue: I know, but in canon Naruto and Sakura were in once place to work out and help support each other. I doubt it would be that easy if Fu was in waterfall, Mei in Mist, Naruto and Haku being on the run with Zabuza (even if they weren't there, with just Mei and Fu they can't really support each other because it's such a long distance and they won't be able to tell the other went to the alternate world with them. Not to mention a whole lot of other stuff that won't work solely because there will be too many changes.

Noahendless: thanks

Thor94: "mastered" is too strong, more like….unlocked? learned? And it isn't that "no Hozuki succeeded, just very few who have big enough reserves to survive.

I'm trying to incorporate it as much as I can without negating his other skills, but

1\. Lets face it, the normal sharingan is basically just giving you better eyesight, photographic memory and (when Naruto unlocks the third tomoe) able to read chakra and know how to mold it instantly. Basically just some passive upgrades. The real show comes after the Mangekyo.

2\. ….. I admit that I am drawing a blank for new water jutsu to make

: thanks for all those reviews

BlackDragonShinigami: ohhh. That part ^.^ll

Setokayba2n: no they won't be (as I've explained in the chapter)

Iou2003us: thanks. Your vote has been recorded

Jacklvmage12: the Hozuki is one of the parents of Kushina who's bloodline laid dormant inside her and reawakened in Naruto.

If he didn't die chances are he'll probably be killed by Orochimaru for "betraying him" or something

My reasoning is that for the hydrofication technique, since you are turning yourself into water, you become one with the water and your "essence" is spread out and diluted. To recall it back (or even control it) you have to expend more chakra because you are spreading out your chakra through more water particles and "collecting" pieces of yourself. (Think like a drop of food coloring inside a glass of water compared to say a bucket or a pool. The amount of chakra you have is how much food coloring you put in and when the food coloring disappears completely, you cease to exist because you do not have the chakra to recall your body parts back)

(didn't we completely skip that when we went to primordial gods?)

Well I just got a new house in like May so I doubt I would be changing again soon

You should have a pm by the time you read this.

Snikpnot1994: thanks. That's one of the reasons I'm taking it slow. It just ain't fun when you can effortlessly defeat jonin-level shinobi at age 14 or so.

Natsuphoenix: ?


	39. Raiga

Chapter 38

Raiga

Haku huffed and once again held up his ice gauntlets. Once again, he dashed forward to clash with his opponent. Halfway there, Haku smirked. Instantaneously two ice mirrors appeared. One in front of Haku, and the other behind his opponent. Haku dashed into the mirror in front of him at full speed and jumped out of the other at triple his speed. "this is it!" he shouted and swung his arm. His opponent barely had time to react as he was frozen by the sub-zero nature of the gauntlet and shattered by the follow up concussive force. Haku relaxed his stance for a moment "I win" he huffed.

"not quite" a disembodied voice said. Just then Haku felt something restrict his movements. He looked to where he shattered the opponent a moment ago before dropping his head "you got me Naruto" he said.

It was at this moment that Fu snuck up and placed her Raijin blade on Haku's shoulder, right where one of Naruto's liquid restrictions was. Haku's head instantly shot up and Naruto quickly untangled himself and reformed away from Haku. Both boys glared at Fu who just childishly stuck out her tongue and made a victory sign.

"well done you three. Fu, good work on catching them by surprise. You knew that you were not as strong or combat oriented as Haku and Naruto so you pretended to be taken out early on to save your strength while they wore each other down. Haku, very nice thinking on that last attack. You have become very adapt with the making and using of your demonic ice mirrors and to make them so quickly without handseals in the middle of battle, with your ice gauntlet activated no less! And Naruto, taking advantage of your hydrofication technique and using a water clone disguised as yourself to catch your opponent off guard. Good work. All three of you" Suzuno beamed. "you passed my test of traps in battle with flying colors. After all, not all traps have to be made of ninja wire and equipment" she winked while Mangetsu and Hibiki nodded on the sidelines.

"take a break. After that, we'll head over to the leader's tent. Ryuji-sama hinted that he had an important mission for the three of you and two other guys."

"team Zabuza _and_ another two? Must be a pretty big mission. I can't wait"

Xxxxxxx

Team Zabuza walked into the tent in their normal formation. Haku in front, Fu to his left and Naruto his right. Facing them were the leaders of the rebel camp. Ruyji, Chukichi, Mangetsu and the elders. Another two figures had their backs turned to them. The tall one appeared to be wearing a hunter-nin's outfit with blue moused-up hair and the other wore a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflaged pattern pants and ear protectors going over his short, tuffy, blue hair.

"Chojuro?" Naruto spoke up. The figure quickly stood straight and turned to face them with wide open eyes. "Naruto? Haku? Fu? What are you doing here?"

Fu shrugged "the same as you I guess"

Haku stepped forward and bowed to the leaders "team Zabuza reporting in. You requested for us Ryuji-sama?" he asked.

The figure next to Chojuro snorted "at least someone has _some_ respect. Why, back in my day-"

"that's enough Ao." Ryuji interrupted. "I did indeed call you here and I intend to explain the reason before nightfall if possible" he said, shooting a quick glare in Ao's direction before turning back to team Zabuza. "our manpower is slowly growing, but I heard some news of Yagura possibly getting mercenaries or other shinobi to boost his forces. This is why I wanted Zabuza back. With Zabuza, we would have two of the four remaining swordsmen alive. The other ones are Raiga Kurosuki and Kisame Hoshigaki. Kisame is currently missing and hasn't been heard of since he deserted the Mist back when Zabuza failed his coup. This leaves us with Raiga." Ruyji tossed a scroll to Haku who opened it and read it while Naruto and Fu peered over his shoulders. "Your mission is to either bring Raiga back to join the rebel fraction or if he refuses, eliminate him. We cannot afford to have him on Yagura's side."

Haku snapped the scroll shut and sealed it away in his pouch. "I understand. I believe that as the one with the most experience, Ao is to be the leader?"

"Correct. Ao already has a list of things we can offer and negotiables. Raiga currently resides in a mining town in the land of Rivers called Katabami. I requested the permission of the Leaf for us to pass through their territory but try to avoid going closer than you need to. Good luck"

The five ninja bowed at the clear dismissal and left the tent.

Ryuji watched them leave the tent in silence before looking at Mangetsu out of the corner of his eye. "each of them are powerful in their own right, but they are up against a former swordsman of the Mist in his home territory. Even if they were trained by Zabuza and yourself, I still have a feeling that something will go wrong. Tail them but stay far enough so you are out of Ao's Byakugan range. Only interfere if necessary.

Mangetsu nodded and disappeared in a swirl of water, leaving a scroll where he sat.

Xxxxx

Katabami gold mine. A town that relies on extracting ore and processing it into gold. Having no shinobi system of its own, the town relied heavily on trade and the government. Unfortunately, the government knew this very well and imposed heavy tax rates on the workers and traders. That all ended in one night. A single shinobi assassinated all members of the corrupt government and freed the people from its oppression. At least, that was what the people thought.

The man was known as Raiga Kurosuki. Not being privy to ninja information, the people have never heard of him and his cruel deeds so they hailed them as a saviour and hero. They wholeheartedly accepted his proposal of creating the "Kurosuki family". Too late did they see how wrong they were.

Rumours of Raiga burying people alive started to spread. Anyone that confronted him about it disappeared less than a day later. The oppression the people felt came back full force. An unspoken rule was made. "do not go against Raiga, do not displease him and do not show any signs of defiance or traitorous acts."

News of the Kurosuki family travelled to nearby towns. Young adults and teens flocked to Katabami mine in hopes of being part of it. Nobody knew what happened to them, all they knew was that the Kurosuki family was growing and there was nothing they could do about it.

Xxx

The group of rebel shinobi looked down at the town. Everywhere they looked, people had a look of hidden fear and resigned sadness. Sneaking around, they found that the case was the same everywhere. Old people who must have been long past their working age carrying huge sacks or wheeling wheelbarrows overflowing with goods.

They watched in horror and disgust as a frail old man working at the mining sector slowly pushed a cart of large rocks with trembling arms and legs. Just then, the wheel of the cart hit a small rock and caused the cart to tumble over and spill its contents on the dirt ground. The man's face drained of whatever colour it had as he quickly scrambled to his feet and rushed on to collect and place the rocks back in the cart. Suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared out of nowhere and kicked the frail old man aside.

The man looked at the assailant with his eyes as wide as they could be. "p-please!" he begged "D-don't tell Raiga-sama! I-It won't happen again! I have a wife and grandchildren!"

The cloaked figure looked down on him. Naruto couldn't see his face from where he was, but even if he could, he had a feeling that it would not have made a difference as it was undoubtedly devoid of all emotion. "Raiga-sama does not tolerate mistakes" he said before knocking him out and heaved the man like a sack of dirt and proceeded to carry him in the direction of a tall hill.

Ao turned to the rest of the team "now's our chance" he whispered before making a handseal and focusing his chakra. Moments later, he released it. "I sense a chakra larger than others of this town in the direction that man went. That is likely Raiga."

Just then, three loud bangs of a gong echoed through the town. Ao's visible eye widened "have we been spotted?" he muttered to himself and once again activated his Byakugan. He scanned the area around the town and saw that most chunin-level chakra were heading towards the same hill that the first one carried the old man to. Ao then focused his eye down to the bottom of the mine where the man was captured to see many were muttering about something. He deactivated his eye and turned to the rest of the ninja "it appears that was a "funeral gong". Our cover is still safe. Now disguise yourselves and follow me" the cyclops said as his appearance started to waver before settling on a cloaked figure like the one they just saw.

Seconds later, the group was once again jumping through the trees in the direction of the hill.

Not far from where they were standing before, few puddles of water slowly started to gravitate together into one larger puddle. The larger puddle started to rise up into the air in the shape of a man leaning against a tree with his arms folded "what are you doing, Raiga…" Mangetsu frowned before collapsing back into a puddle and disappearing without a trace.

Xxx

A lone figure stood on a tall uprising of rocks and stared at the simple coffin being lowered into the ground by four cloaked figures. The only details one could use to explain him were that he had a long black cloak that covered all of his body and had a large lump on his back.

"I'm happy. This brings back memories of when I first met him. Such a kind man." The figure said, his smooth and masculine voice cutting through the silence.

"really? That's good" another, much younger voice said from behind him.

"when we arrived, he greeted us with such a warm smile and gave us a large bouquet of flowers to thank us for freeing him from the tyranny of his former rulers. He was truly a great guy." The man looked up at the dark clouds for a moment, as if to see through them to the heavens beyond. When he brought his head down again to look at the coffin, he smiled a happy smile "funerals are great! They touch my heart!"

"will I also have this kind of grand funeral with people lined up?" the younger voice spoke up.

The older man lost his smile and instantly looked serious "idiot! I won't give you a funeral!" he said before his face softened "you won't die until I die. We don't have to give you a funeral to remember the good times. You are always a good kid." The wind howled and shook his cloak as if in response to his claim.

"Raiga…" the young voice said "I sense six large sources of chakra. They're coming"

"Yeah" Raiga replied "I'm interested to see what business they have coming here.

AN: and that wraps up the first chapter of the Raiga arc. I've got to admit, this feels like one of my better chapters. What do you guys and girls think?

After this arc will be…? (vote)

1\. Snow/Spring 4

2\. Star 2

3\. Shion 3

Also, should I let Raiga live? I already have an idea of what is going to happen. I'm just interested to see what you readers think. If there is a large enough difference between general votes and my plan, I'll just change it up a little from what I planned

Yes:

No:

Oh and its been brought to my attention that I haven't shown a proper scene of Naruto revealing his sharingan to his comrades. So I will just explain it a little here. Haku and Fu, being his most trusted friends and basically a brother and sister to him obviously know( in fact I had a slight mention of them knowing about it in the beginning of chapter 35 battle of the sea part 2)

Mei, having been curious after reading Amachi's lips when he muttered "sharingan" confronted Naruto and found out about it on their way back from the land of Sea.

Mangetsu, Hibiki and Suzuno all know (being his sensei)

Orochimaru knows… because Orochimaru.

That just about sums up everyone important who knows (I'm not going to mention the random spies who saw him activate it here and there and the people who died after a glimpse and whatnot). If there is anyone who you think might know, feel free to ask and I'll say yes or no.

Reviews!

Noahendless: that wouldn't be too hard except that would make him a bit too OP which I want to avoid as much as possible (plus, he already has Hozuki, Uzumaki and Uchiha bloodlines

BlackDragonShinigami: thanks

Wyrtha: lets see… going to skip on commenting on most of your theories cause spoilers, all I will say is that there will be no invasion because Orochimaru already has Naruto, Sasuke won't die cause 1) again, no invasion, 2) Gaara is calmer and doesn't kill everything. Orochimaru doesn't lost his arms or look for Tsunade (again no invasion). Finally, you can say this is set around a week or two before the exams.

Well I already have an idea how the Shion and Star village can play out with the Rebel forces instead of Leaf, just having some slight issue thinking up a good scenario for Snow/Spring

As for the Ukataka one, that's a pretty good idea, but I already have a different idea in mind for the tailed beast training (did Ukataka even have a good control over his beast anyways?)

: thanks

Thor94: thanks, yup and yup

Iou2003us: vote recorded and thanks

Effectivesage: thanks. Oh I guess I haven't really shown them seeing the sharingan huh. I'll put it in the authors note on top there. And thanks again!

Smithpj: thanks


	40. the negotiation

Chapter 39

The negotiation

"they're here"

Raiga discretely looked around "very well hidden, must be high-level shinobi." Raiga's eyes darted around the cropping of rocks" 1…2…3…4…5. Didn't you say there were 6 sources of chakra?"

"It appears the last one decided to stay back. In fact it has kept the same distance away from the group the entire time."

"I see, in any case…" Raiga muttered before turning to the other hooded figures standing next to where they buried the coffin "the funeral is over. Return to your posts" he commanded.

The hooded figures bowed and either sunk into the ground or disappeared in a burst of speed.

Raiga turned to where he felt the biggest source of chakra "I know you're there. Come out."

Naruto reformed himself (still in disguise) from between the cracks of the rocks while the other members stepped out from behind trees or stood up from behind large boulders.

Ao stepped forward still in disguise "Raiga Kurosuki. I am-"

Before Ao could continue any further, Raiga interrupted him "drop the disguise. If you are here to attack me I would assume you wouldn't come out this easily, which leads me to the other conclusion that you are here to offer me something, negotiate or join me. Any of which case demands that you show some form of respect and talking in disguise is disrespect I will not tolerate. If you are unwilling to reveal yourself I have no interest in talking with you."

Ao clenched his fists and gritted his teeth for a moment before relaxing and nodding "very well" he said and dropped released his transformation. An action that was quickly followed by the other members of the group. "As I was saying, I am Ao, a member of the Rebel Fraction of Mist. Our leader, Ryuji Sakamoto has tasked us to recruit you to help in our battle against the Loyalists. In this scroll is a list of negotiations I am authorised to give you" Ao said and slowly reached in his pocket to take out the scroll. He opened the scroll and turned it around to show there were no traps before closing it and throwing it to Raiga.

The swordsman opened the scroll again and scanned it "these are some interesting prepositions. A pardon for most of my past "crimes", my name removed from hunter-nin's bingo book, a reduction in the sentence of my heavier crimes…" Raiga snapped the scroll shut "and what will you do if I refuse?"

Naruto turned his body to the side and got ready to summon his sword. Fu took the handle of the Raijin sword from her pouch while internally musing at the irony of using it against Raiga, Haku started moulding his chakra to form his ice gauntlets, Chojuro, after some hesitation, took out a scroll and unsealed a large duel-handed sword, finally Ao placed his hands together in the seal of confrontation and activated his hidden Byakugan "we are ordered to remove any possibility of you being recruited to fight against us"

Raiga laughed loudly "No wonder the Rebels needed me! Sending out 4 kids and an unnamed shinobi to try take me down! That one looks like he is about to wet his pants!" Raiga sneered and pointed at Chojuro. "don't worry, as a reward of entertaining me, I shall give all of you a funeral!"

"Just one question, do the names Zabuza and Mangetsu mean anything to you?" Naruto asked.

"Mangetsu Hozuki, he wasn't too bad. Weak, but he had potential. His bloodlust was comparable to mine and Kisame's. Zabuza on the other hand… Don't you DARE mention Momochi in my presence! That coward started the Rebel fraction and ran away with his tail between his legs as soon as his attack failed." Raiga snarled before calming down again "I've changed my mind, just for that, I won't even give you a funeral. I-"

Raiga was interrupted by a spike of chakra from the trio of Naruto, Haku and Fu.

The ground at Naruto's feet was blasted apart as he rushed to Raiga "DON'T YOU DARE…" Naruto shouted unsheathing his sword and swung it as hard as he could with the intent of bisecting Raiga.

"I like that bloodlust boy" Raiga shouted and unsealed his own Kiba blades and held them crossed in front of him, catching Naruto's golden blade in between his own and locking the blades.

Raiga's eyes widened as he saw Haku running towards Naruto with his gauntlet already in full swing "DISRESPECT FATHER…". He quickly disengaged and jumped back as Haku jumped over Naruto and smashed the ground where Raiga was standing a moment ago. The duel wielder watched in slight surprise as the ground was shattered and ice spikes appearing out of the cracks and headed in his direction. "An ice-user. I thought they all died out" Raiga muttered as he got back into his stance. "Raiga, behind you"

"IN THAT WAY" Raiga turned around just in time to parry away a thrust from the Raijin blade from Fu "tch" Raiga clenched his teeth and coated his blades in lightning chakra while simultaneously removing the numbing effect on his arm.

xxx

From atop a hill not far away Mangetsu observed the fight "Raiga was always cocky" he sighed before turning to the adopted children of Zabuza "And it seems that speaking ill of Zabuza is still a taboo subject for them"

Xxx

Raiga eyed the group of shinobi again before the trio's words clicked "wait, father? You telling me that the Demon of the Hidden Mist has kids? No, your chakras don't feel like his. Adopted then. Momochi adopted three little orphans. He must have gotten softer than I thought. Just then, his eyes landed on Kibikiribocho. "so he's already croaked huh. That why you joined the Rebels?"

The trio clenched their teeth and gripped their weapons harder.

"that's enough. Raiga isn't someone you can take down alone!" Ao shouted.

"That's right. Now that you've realized the futility of fighting against me… **ninja art: fangs of lightning** " Raiga held his sparkling Kiba Blades up into the air and sent twin tails of lightning into the sky. Instantly storm clouds began to gather and lightning flashed. "Surge!"

The sky roared and lightning flashed down to strike the earth and the Rebel ninja.

"how was that, Ranmaru?"

"that was amazing Raiga"

Raiga chuckled softly before it slowly started to turn into full blown maniacal laughter. "they were blown to pieces! As I thought, it's not sad at all! No point giving them a funeral!

"they're still alive" Ranmaru said.

"impossible. Surviving a hit from my fangs of lightning? No. if you say so then there is no doubt"

"those three are dangerous"

The dust cleared to show the group was being protected by a large dome of ice and water.

"I see. They used the fact that water conducts electricity to send the lightning to the earth and the presence of wind chakra in ice jutsu to nullify my lightning chakra.

"2 shinobi hiding in the rocks 20 meters at 12 degrees east, 3 hiding behind trees 7 meters at 30 degrees south west and 1 hiding 20 meters directly behind us" Ao said with his Byakugan active "but something is weird. I can see them with my Byakugan but I cannot sense them at all. There is no way I can't sense someone 20 meters away even if it is a new-born civilian! In any case, we should just check to make sure. Maybe they are using some sort of genjutsu or seal to avoid sensory detection." Ao ordered. "I will stall Raiga for as long as I can"

The younger shinobi nodded and quickly dashed towards where Ao had detected the enemies. Naruto and Haku to the three in the trees, Chojuro the one behind them and Fu the two by the rocks.

Each arrived at the destination to discover nothing more than rocks and trees.

Just then a flash of lightning drew their attention. The shinobi turned towards where Ao was battling with Raiga to see the unconscious body of the elder ninja flying through the air.

"we're strong, you and I. No. You're strong. I'm only strong when I'm with you, Ranmaru"

" _Ranmaru?"_ Naruto asked himself and glanced back up at Raiga, for the first time noticing that there was a bulge under his cloak. "Raiga is not alone! Aim for the thing on his back!" Naruto shouted.

From afar, the rest of the conscious ninja could see Raiga's eyes widen before a look of slight fear appeared. The look of fear was quickly replaced with pure rage as he held his Kiba blades to the sky "NOBODY TOUCHES RANMARU! **Lightning strike!** " a bolt of lightning shot out the sky and hit the tip of Raiga's swords. The swordsman swung his lightning charged blades down towards the paralyzed shinobi with a desperate look on his face.

"Aaahhhhh!" Naruto screamed as his body was fried with lightning and had to consciously make an effort to not to subconsciously turn into water.

Finally the lightning passed and Naruto was left panting on the ground.

"you are persistent. Fine. If frying you won't work, I'll just have to crush you!" Raiga shouted and jumped down.

" **shadow clone jutsu"** Naruto shouted " **water clone jutsu"** he continued **"transformation jutsu Seven Pillars formation!"** Naruto laid his hand on the pommel of his sword as his clones formed the same trap he used during his final battle with Mifune. His seven shadow clones transformed themselves into metallic poles that embedded themselves into the ground while four of his water clones used the hydrofication technique to transform into water chains. The remaining seven water clones positioned themselves next to the clone poles and placed their hands on their blades. " **twin slash barrage!** "

Raiga gritted his teeth and brought his swords together and ran chakra through them making them glow. " **lightning armour** " he said and started to reabsorb the lightning to create a pseudo version of the Raikage's lightning armour. It was still a technique he hadn't quite gotten the hang of and he could only hold it for 2 minutes maximum.

The water clones almost simultaneously dashed forwards and unsheathed their blades at high speeds. Despite not being as skilled as Mifune, the glowing Raiga still managed to counter a majority of the barrage with his lightning enhanced duel wielding. The clones were knocked off their course and most of them continued their strikes to hit another clone. However, being water clones of a hydrofiation user, the damage meant nothing as they simply reformed the cut as if it never happened. Just like the original concept of the idea, the clones used the water chains to gain more momentum and attack at an even faster speed. This time, even with his enhanced reflexes, Raiga suffered several cuts and the back of his cloak tore open to drop a small zipped up bag.

"Ranmaru!" Raiga shouted.

The swordsman reached down to grab at the bag only to feel for his instincts to scream at him. Being one of the most feared ninja of the Mist and his time as a missing ninja, Raiga learned to listen to them without a second of hesitation. He quickly blasted chakra out of his feet and sent himself flying into the air. He looked down in time to see the bag disappear in a poof of smoke to reveal a surprised clone. Once again, rage overtook his features and his raised his swords into the air "I'LL KILL YOU! **LIGHTNING STRIKE ARMOR!** " he shouted and brought his swords down. Just as he landed again, Raiga was hit by a bolt of lightning which blasted apart the seven pillars formation and dispelled all the clones. " **lightning burial: banquet of-** "

"that's enough. D-Drop your weapons or I-I will cleave his bag in two" Chojuro shouted with a slight stutter as he raised his double handed sword above the zipped-up bag. Despite his weak sounding words and nervous behaviour, Naruto could see the determined fire in his eyes and had no doubt Chojuro would follow through on it.

"Ranmaru!" Raiga shouted in alarm.

"I'm ok Raiga" a muffled boy's voice said from within the bag.

Raiga gritted his teeth before slumping his shoulders and dropped his swords. "Fine. Let Ranmaru go and I will join your Rebel forces. You have my word"

"What!?" a voice screamed from the forest "What about us? The Kurosuki Family!"

"Forget him! We don't need a weak head! The Kurosuki Family is eternal!" another shouted.

"shut up you weak fools. I value Ranmaru more than I will ever value you lot! Now die! **Lightning burial: banquet of lightning!** " Raiga shouted as he grabbed his swords and swung them, sending out arcs of lightning that lit the entire forest up. Moments later, the screams of the Kurosuki Family had vanished and the once green forest was reduced to nothing but charred tree trunks and burnt grass.

Chojuro slowly lifted his blade from above Ranmaru and sealed away before sighing. The mission was a success.

AN: and that pretty much concludes the Raiga arc. Judging by the votes, the next arc is snow/spring. If you have any objections, vote now or forever hold your peace?. Also I took the liberty of deciding to let Raiga live since no one voted for either options (unless someone did and I accidentally missed it)

After this arc will be…? (vote)

1\. Snow/Spring 5

2\. Star 2

3\. Shion 3

PS: thanks to everyone who reviewed. I always appreciate it but this time I decided there needed to be extra thanks for the many long reviews that is a secret guilty pleasure of mine!

Reviews!

: of course

Zeus501: ehehehe… at least there is no cliffhanger or sad end this time? Summons.. well the first summon should be appearing soon...ish. and the Leaf shinobi…. Not that soon

Noahendles: thanks. And it's ok, voting is optional anyways

RinneTaicho: well I took Hashirama's case into account because remember that he is the only one with wood style and that if you took a look at the pictures of him and his family, you would notice the different hair color (namely him being brown and the other two, who I'm assuming are his "brothers" being dull yellow) I'm given the impression that Hashirama may also not be a full Senju but adopted like Tobirama (in my story anyways) since his mother was never revealed. So basically like how Tobirama is secretly part Hozuki, Hashirama _may_ be part Senju and part some other (extinct) clan.

In short: area - body and chakra adapts -kekkei genkai and affinity formed due to surrounding area.

Tobirama = Hozuki/Uzumaki (which are related to Senju). Therefore, strong water chakra (strong chakra from Uzumaki side and water natured from Hozuki side).

Hashirama = Part Senju, part other clan + highly unlikely chance of mixing at perfect ratio = wood style

Hope that help to clear up and not confuse more (I'm writing this at 10:13 pm so my train of thought isn't exactly normal)

As for the Yoroi part… yeah I tried to do what I can to make it believable but I guess you can chalk it up to like a game of rock, paper, scissors where Yoroi just happened to have the right skill set to barely beat Haku.

Specterchilypeper:

1) I don't want to make him too OP because I noticed a large amount of readers do not like OP characters and prefer to see them get stronger without hax bloodlines. And I say too OP because to me there is a slight difference, OP being crazy strong for the wrong reasons (aka how Sasuke kept getting hax powers and stuff.) too OP being godlike (and I too enjoy the occasional godlike Naruto but only if it's written well and not those one shot kills where even a headshot with chidori is just shrugged off). Technically Naruto only has two active bloodline and one passive bloodline. As for the rinnegan, I'm still in slight debate about it. If I do choose to do it, it will only appear maybe last few arcs or so.

2) I know. Cannon Naruto is just winning through dumb luck (actually most of the characters are), take for example the cannon Raiga arc. 4 genin taking down a member of the seven swordsmen of the mist. Wtf?

I try to limit what I write about the story in AN as much as I can. I usually do it to help clarify some events that I couldn't fit in with the story (eg some facts the current characters on a mission won't know such as Orochimaru keeping an eye on him)

Thank you for writing the long review for me to enjoy. I love having constructive critisim and I pride myself in being creative and coming up with ideas nobody has seen before as often as possible.

PS: do you mind putting the name of the story and author who wrote it down? Eg: Naruto of the Blue Sharingan by Jackalope33

Thor94: thanks and here you go

BlackDragonShinigami: yay and vote recorded

Wyrtha: hmm that's an option, but as I've said before, I already have a plan for the tailed beast training.

Oh yeah, the whole revenge thing on the Leaf… let's just say that he is postponing it so he can use Naruto's body and strike an even heavier blow against the Leaf (I mean, what can be worse than fighting the leaf with a resurrected first, second and fourth Hokage while inhabiting the body of the son of the fourth). Also, I'm not exactly avoiding them completely. There are slight mentions (like last chapter where they had to gain a pass through Leaf territory) but it's just that the missions just never really crossed paths (like the chances of meeting another shinobi on an unrelated mission).

Well there's a nice thought on an approach to the snow/spring mission. I'll think about it and probably modify it later.

As for Jiraiya, I can't deny he is a strong shinobi who could be vital in training Naruto but he will only be like a short period (maybe a week or so max). definitely no toads, foxes or dragons for Naruto. Too overused for me. In fact I already have decided on the summons (if you look close enough, I placed it in one of the earlier AN where I asked readers to vote). I do believe I already decided on a summons for Fu, and not yet any for Haku (I'll have to double check on my other computer)

As for my belief on why Zabuza and Raiga wasn't in Akatsuki. If you take a look at the members, most of them were feared for one great crime or another (Hidan killing his entire village, Immortal- probably also so Kakuzu would stop needing partner replacements. Kakuzu- old guy who fought and survived a battle with the first Hokage, Sasori- assassinated third Kazekage, basically started third shinobi war, Deidera…. Probably just cause he's a crazy strong bomber. Kisame- monster of the mist, crazy chakra, think also assassination of daimyos, etc etc, Itachi – killed almost whole of Uchiha clan. Orochimaru- Sanin, strong AF, huge lust for power, human experiments.) while Zabuza and Raiga weren't really known for much or had anything really to contribute (or that Akatsuki didn't have anything to offer)

Knight'sShade: if you're reading this then my response to your review on chapter 2 and 3: yeah that was when I first started writing and it probably could have been much better. I do plan to go back and revise everything after I'm finished.


	41. the chapter to break 100k words!

Chapter 40

The chapter to break 100k words!

The team of Rebel ninja watched the back of Raiga as he looked over the town of Katabami with Ranmaru next to him. "We had a good time here" said Raiga.

"we did" Ramaru replied.

Raiga picked up the small child and carefully placed him on the sack he had over his back before turning around to face the waiting Rebels "lead the way"

Xxxx

"the other person is still following us" Ranmaru whispered to Raiga as they jumped through the trees. Raiga glanced back "keep track of him, if he continues to follow us after we cross the border between Land of Rivers and Fire, I'll take him out myself.

Ao frowned as he listened to their quiet exchange. Someone has been following them? Judging be their tones it must have been quite a while. Since they left the town? Sooner? His single visible eyes widened. Did the man watch their fight? Ao let out a soft curse. An unknown enemy who knows all their skills. Ignoring his unease, Ao spoke up "there is a town near the border between the Land of Fire and Rivers. We can stop there for the night.

" _perfect location. If he is from the land of Rivers, he would stop tailing us after we cross the border. If he is a spy, we would be prepared for him"_ Raiga mused.

Unknown to the older ninja, the members of Team Zabuza had much better hearing than they thought, and more stubble ways of communication too.

The next time Naruto jumped off a tree branch he made a pair of shadow clones and hid them in the shadows of the trees as the group passed over. The clones nodded at each other and jumped off in the other direction.

Xxxx

Tanzaku Gai, a town that made money off the vices of humans. casinos, brothels, pubs and many other similar attractions were in abundance in almost every street of the town. Of course, for the more touring people, there is the Tanzaku castle that contained the rich history of the town. But for the Rebel shinobi, most of the attractions would go completely unnoticed. Most.

Naruto let out another maniacal laugh and he collected his winnings from the slot machine, completely ignoring the owners who cried rivers of tears behind him.

It all started about an 3 hours ago when Ao told them to take time off but be back at the inn by 8. Since then, he has bankrupted 6 casinos (kicked and banned in all of them assuming they can recover), caused 26 people to go completely broke, almost mugged/assaulted 12 times and is about 8 million ryo richer than before.

Needless to say, Naruto was in a good mood.

Now, I'm sure you must be wondering, "but Mr Amazing Author! What about that ninja who has been tailing them?" Well that, my dear readers, is part of the reason why Naruto was able to be alone and so carefree.

*flashback*

The group of Rebel shinobi stopped at a decent looking inn.

"We will rest here tonight. Chojuro, Haku, Naruto, Fu, feel free to do whatever you want as long as you keep out of trouble. Keep together and don't get lost. Meet back at this inn at 8 pm sharp. Am I clear?" Ao asked.

"Crystal clear captain!" Naruto mock saluted. Ao narrowed his eyes "Raiga, come with me." He ordered and turned away from the mocking salute.

As soon as Naruto could no longer see Ao, he turned and started walking in a random direction "well, I'm off" he said.

Chojuro quickly hurried after him "but the captain said we must keep together!"

Haku folded his arms "there's something you're not telling us"

From her position behind the blond ninja, Fu could just barely make out a smirk coming across Naruto's face "I received word from my clones a while back. He's friendly" Naruto said and promptly collapsed into a puddle of water that circled the group once before disappearing.

Fu quickly connected the dots and let out a smirk of her own before remembering that Chojuro was still panicking. Her smirk quickly dropped and turning into a look of annoyance. "that sneaky little… leaving us to do the explaining" Fu muttered.

"leaving _you_ to do the explaining" Haku smiled before following Naruto's example and collapsing into a puddle of water.

A few blocks away Naruto heard Fu's scream of frustration as he entered his first casino and began his journey to rich hood

*flashback end*

"oink"

Naruto blinked. A pig? In a town like this?

"oink"

Naruto looked around. Finally, his eyes landed on a fair skinned woman of average height with straight black hair that went to her shoulders wearing a long dark blue kimono with white trimmings and a white obi. She had her arms crossed and was talking to a blond-haired woman with twin tails wearing a grass green haori with the kanji for "gamble" on the back.

"oiiiink"

Naruto took a closer look at the pair. Then he realized, the squeal was indeed a pig. A pig that was wearing a necklace of pearls and a dark red jacket being squeezed in the arms of the black-haired lady.

Taking pity on the unusually dressed pig, Naruto walked up to the pair "hey lady, you might want to let up on the pig, unless you're trying to kill it, then maybe I could lend you a kunai, its much quieter that way."

The black-haired woman wheeled around with fire in her eyes "kill Tonton? How about I kill you?" she snarled with three senbon clutched between her fingers on her right hand while her left hand held the pig.

Naruto took a step back and held his hands up "relax! Sheesh. That's the last time I'm helping an overdressed pig"

The fire faded from the woman's eyes as she looked down at the pig. "huh?"

"oink" the pig replied.

"oh" she said and turned back to Naruto "sorry about that, I get a bit aggressive when people threaten to harm Tonton. By the way I'm Shizune, behind me is-"

"that's enough Shizune" the blond spoke.

"yes ma'am"

Naruto watched the exchange with a slight sweat drop. "anyways, I'm Naruto and I'll just be leaving now. Continue with whatever you were doing but try not strangling the pig this time. Bye!" he quickly said and hurried off back to the inn.

Shizune turned around to see the blond lady watching the back of Naruto as he left. "What is it Tsunade-sama?"

"it's nothing. Now tell me where you hid my saki!"

Xxxx

Haku sighed happily as he walked through the streets. It's been a while since he has been this relaxed. He loved his brother and sister, he really did. But it was nice not to deal with Naruto's antics and Fu's overbearing attitude once in a while.

He hummed a random tune to himself and glanced at some of the goods on display and frowned at the prices. One particular necklace caught his attention. It had a small blue stone that was encased in a silver casing hung from a piece of leather. Normally this wouldn't be very interesting, but this stone seemed to be pulling at his chakra. Very slightly, but it was there. Haku held it up and inspected it closely. There was no doubt, this was a chakra stone. These stones are rare and only found occasionally in deep underground mines. No one knows why exactly or how they were made, but it was said to be fossilised chakra trees from hundreds of years ago.

Depending on how it is used, the stone has different responses. The stones in pure form constantly sap a small amount of chakra from everything that it touches and once their source begins to grow low, the stone releases the chakra back and restores the chakra. Stones that are melted down for steel are able to release chakra waves such as the ones the samurai use. The most well-known one is the chakra paper that can tell a person's affinity.

Haku unsealed a scroll from his pocket and released a case of ryo that amounts to almost triple the asked price. He placed it on table of the confused and slightly apprehensive owner of the stall. "keep the change, stones like this one are well worth it" he said as he walked away.

Xxxxx

Fu moaned as she eased into the hot springs. The mildly hot waters easing her stiff muscles and removing the dirt and grime of the day's travelling. She couldn't remember the last time she could relax like this. The green haired jinchuriki thought about everything that has happened the past few years. Meeting her adopted brothers and her adopted father, the missions they took, that time Naruto gave her a gift… Fu shook her head clear of her thoughts. _"why am I thinking about that?"_ she wondered and began to clean herself.

A few minutes later she submerged herself in her memories again. Meeting the blacksmith, Gato betraying them on the bridge, coming to the Rebel side, meeting Mei, Mei flirting with Naruto... Mei flirting with Naruto…Mei…

"that's it!" Fu declared as she stood up "I'm getting out!"

Xxx

Chojuro nervously paced around the room. He attempted to follow Fu but she was fast and agile so he lost her in the crowds, he then tried to find Naruto or Haku but that ended quickly when he was swamped by the many street merchants. When he finally escaped them, the near hyperventilating boy ran as fast as he could to the inn and has been there ever since.

"… and what if they got ambushed by Cloud ninja and taken as slaves, forever having to live out the rest of their lives just fighting for their lives and living off grass and bugs! Ohhh what to do, what to do! Captain will be so angry! He's going to report this and I'm going to be exiled from the Rebels….no they cannot afford to have me running around, they'll just kill me! Will they slowly chop me to pieces and feed the animals? Hang me? Or maybe they would be merciful and give me a quick and painless death?" Chojuro muttered to himself and continued to pace the room.

Xxxx

Ao walked towards the forest they came from and stopped just outside of it and turned towards Raiga.

"what's wrong Captain?" Raiga mocked "something scare you? or maybe you're not comfortable with me walking freely like the others? Maybe you just want to kill me and say we were ambushed?"

"don't tempt me" Ao muttered "that's not what I called you here for. Someone was following us?"

"oh? You noticed it?" Raiga asked

"I heard you" Ao admitted unashamedly "any idea who? Someone after your head?"

Raiga shrugged "don't know, he's been following you. Kept the same distance away from your group since you guys got to Katabami."

Ao's mind raced through all the possible scenarios, from a person from Leaf keeping an eye on them to a spy to an assassin. "in any case, we have to confront him now. After this town, we head straight to a port that take us back to the Rebel's camping grounds. That is much closer than I would like anyone tailing me to get. We can't take them out during the trip because it might interfere with Konoha and I would prefer them not to be involved in this."

Raiga placed his hands on his Kiba blades "well, you're the captain. Ranmaru, where is the guy hiding?"

Ranmaru's muffled voice called out from insde the bag "about 3 miles north west from here" Ranmaru said. He seems to be just waiting there.

"Let's go" Ao said and jumped in the direction Ranmaru indicated.

xxx

About 2 miles in, Ranmaru spoke up again "he started moving" the small boy's eyes widened "he's fast!"

"How fast?" Raiga asked and took out his blades.

"400 meters away" Ranmaru said after a second.

 _"400 meters. That's enough for my Byakugan to reach."_ Ao thought to himself and placed his hand in a Ram seal " _Byakugan"_ Ao mentally shouted and sent chakra to his stolen eye.

"He's here" Ranmaru said as Ao's world turned grayscale. Instantly Ao knew something was wrong. Despite the Byakugan being able to see in 360 degrees and detect anyone by seeing their chakra through objects without chakra, Ao couldn't see anyone. No, that wasn't right, it wasn't that he couldn't see his chakra. Ao could see his chakra just fine, the problem was that Ao couldn't see _him_.

Mist began to creep in all around the two ninja and one boy. "the hidden mist jutsu?" Raiga laughed "you are using the hidden mist jutsu on two Jonin level shinobi _from_ the hidden mist?

Ao gritted his teeth and attempted to focus more chakra into his Byakugan to see through the cloud of chakra. Suddenly he felt a cold finger slide across his neck "dead" a voice whispered. The older ninja was so surprised he deactivated his Byakugan and once again looked through his normal eye. Through the mist, Ao could see 4 figures standing around him "I thought you said there was only one" he hissed and tried to get his heart levels under control.

"There is" Raiga said with the utmost confidence. "the rest must be clones."

"My illusions don't appear to be working on him" Ranmaru whispered in alarm.

Raiga frowned and raised his swords "Come out so I can give you a funeral!" he shouted before something impacted his chest. The swordsman looked down in shock as he felt the spot get wet, only to see his shirt was only wet with water and not his blood. His shock quickly turned into rage "Stop messing with me!" he roared.

His cry of rage was only met with a loud, unrestrained laugh of pure amusement as the mist cleared up.

"You should have seen your faces!" Mangetsu wheezed. The look on your face as you thought you, a proud member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, taken down without even catching a glimpse of your killer." He then turned to Ao, "and you, a tracker who couldn't even track an assailant when a child less than a third of your age tracked me from over 3 miles away. Good work on that, Ranmaru." Mangetsu complimented with a smile.

"how did you know about Ranmaru?" Raiga questioned and got into a defensive stance.

"oh, that's easy. Naruto told me." Mangetsu crossed his arms "another failure of Ao as a tracker ninja. He made a pair of _shadow clones_ right underneath your nose. Ao bowed his head in acceptance of his failure. "why are you here anyways"

"Ryuji-sama tasked me to keep an eye on this mission, just in case Raiga proved to be too much to handle, which he would have, if Naruto didn't get a lucky shot and Chojuro making him surrender. My original plan was to pass you tonight and be back at the camp before you did and act as if I never left, but that was impossible as soon as Ranmaru here sensed me. I'm sure Naruto already told Haku an Fu by now, chances are they told Chojuro too. So there's no point in hiding it anymore. I'll stay at your inn tonight and head back to the camp with you.

There were no arguments. There was nothing to argue about. The other two ninja walked defeatedly behind Mangetsu while Ranmaru silently smiled at the praises he had gotten.

Xxxx

*at the inn*

"Stupid overdressed pig, stupid badly tempered woman, stupid brain, stupid… stupid st- ow stupid table!"

Mangetsu walked into the inn to see the weird sight of Naruto cussing and cursing while hopping on one foot and cradling his other before ungracefully falling over and landed with a loud 'thud'. Mangetsu looked at him with a hint of amusement "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"Just Naruto being Naruto" Haku assured him from his seat on the couch.

"Nothing unusual" Fu continued and sipped on her drink "ohh this coconut water is gooood"

It was then that Naruto noticed the new arrivals "oh, uhh hi sensei." He said before turning to Ao "Captain, I request a side mission to be added onto our current trip" he said "the mission is, to heal Ranmaru and allow him to walk freely again"

AN: a longer chapter to celebrate the breaking of the 100k word count! *throws confetti* I'm not sure about other authors but this is a pretty big milestone for me. next stop, 150k!

I tried to add as much humour as I could in this chapter (because who wants a serious and dull chapter to mark such an important milestone?) and to be honest I just added Tsunade in this chapter as a spur of the moment thing because…Tanzaku. Seemed fitting to meet her here like canon (yes I know the time is wrong because she shouldn't be here for another month since its only chunin exams now) and if you haven't guessed already, she is the reason for the extra side mission added at the end.

And our sort of not really mysterious tail has been uncovered! Yes, it has been Mangetsu the whole time!

On a side note, I've seen a few complaints about not enough action for Naruto's sharingan, I will try rectify this ASAP.

PS: if anyone could find me a Naruto world map (with all minor villages and as many towns as possible) I would be really grateful.

Reviews:

Wyrtha: yeah I was debating on killing off either of them but concluded that without the curry of life Ranmaru would kill himself and Raiga would kill himself (and/or attempt to kill everyone there) if Ranmaru died. As for mentioning about the tailed beast training, I do believe it was in one of the earlier AN as a reply to the many questions about it.

I'm a bit sceptical with the Zabuza strength levels. From what I read, he was once the leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen (unless I read wrong) so that indicates he must have been quite strong (not to mention how he went up against Yagura and Kisame and survived) but lost easily to Kakashi (who I still believe isn't anything about A rank without sharingan). My thought process is that Zabuza fought Yagura, (someone who even Itachi is wary of) and survived but basically died against Kakashi who was pretty much one-shot take down with Itachi's Tsykuyomi.

To be more clear, since Zabuza survived against Yagura, that should put him somewhere close to Yagura's level (and Itachi's too considering he had the same situation). the fact that he was said to be the leader of the swordsmen backs up this idea.

Kakashi on the other hand, lost badly to Itachi, putting him waaaayy below Itachi's level (hence Zabuza's supposed level) but still beat Zabuza. So I think Zabuza's skill was downplayed in his battle with Kakashi?

Thor94: thanks and yup

BlackDragonShinigami: haha

Specterchilypeper: thanks, I do believe I've already read Legacy (and I do admit it was a great story, should probably go back and reread it sometime) as for immortalized, I'll make sure to keep an eye on it. Sorry to disappoint but I don't plan to turn them into gods or anything of the sort by the end, if anything they will just be put into the history books as the greatest ninja of the time or something lol.

Noahendless: thanks


	42. Tsunade

Chapter 41

Tsunade

"the mission is, to heal Ranmaru and allow him to walk freely again"

The room was enveloped by silence. Those who knew Naruto well enough were shocked at how formal he was, and those who didn't know him that well were watching Ao and waiting for his answer.

Raiga stepped forward "Ranmaru hasn't been able to walk since before I've met him. What makes you think there is a doctor who will give him that freedom back, in a small town like this no less."

"Tsunade Senju" Haku spoke up from his position on the couch. "a few hours go, on his little town bankruptcy raid, Naruto came across arguably the best medical ninja in the whole continent. If there is a chance of Ranmaru being healed, this is it."

"that's impossible, Tsunade Senju hasn't been seen in over 16 years. Not even the Leaf has been able to find her. The mission has been completed, I'm not taking any unnecessary detours." Ao stated, missing the slight hope fading from Raiga's eyes, "Request De-"

"approved" everyone's head snapped to look at Mangetsu. "I trust Naruto. If he says Tsunade is in this town then she is." The Hozuki smiled at Naruto "besides, it's better to have tried and failed than to not try and missing out on any chance of succeeding."

Ao bowed his head "very well."

"We will search for her tomorrow, everyone get a good night's rest"

Xxx

The group of 8 standing outside the inn drew the attention of many on during their morning activities. Most of the attention were due to either their attire or their large variety of hair colour.

"Ranmaru, can you search this town for a large source of chakra? Make sure to closely sense each source since as a medical ninja, Tsunade is very skilled at hiding hers."

"I understand, do you have a picture of her?" Ranmaru asked.

"why do you need that?" Mangetsu asked.

"Ranmaru's sensory technique is different to other ninja. He doesn't exactly "sense" their chakra, more like he projects his mind and actually _sees_ them himself. If he is searching or a specific person then having a reference is the best way."

"I see" Haku muttered "so it's like how a civilian would search for someone they know, but on a much faster speed because he doesn't have the same physical restrictions. Well we don't have a picture, but we have something better."

"We do?" Naruto asked blankly.

Fu slapped him on his head "your transformation you idiot"

"oh! Then why didn't you just say so!" Naruto placed his hands together " **transformation"** he said and in a puff of smoke, Naruto disappeared and a blond lady with twin tails, green jacket and a huge bust appeared.

"that's Tsunade alright" Mangetsu nodded. "you got that Ranmaru?"

Ranmaru nodded and closed his eyes.

"why did you ask Ranmaru to do it?" Raiga asked "I'm sure you or Ao would have had it easier?"

"My sensory range, though it may be high and accurate, is near impossible to find a suppressed chakra in a town with so many civilians. Since Ranmaru was able to sense my supressed chakra back at Katabami while Ao couldn't, I'm assuming that he has a sensory range that is higher than Ao. Besides, this is good practice for him" Mangetsu winked.

"found her. She's with another lady with black hair and… a pig?" Ranmaru paused for a second before his faced turned to one of shock "and I think she sensed me sensing her! She is heading in the opposite direction of us" Ranmaru pointed to the west gate of the city "in that direction"

Naruto cursed and dispelled his transformation "let's go!" he shouted and rushed in the direction Ranmaru was pointing.

The older shinobi looked at each other before following Naruto. In that direction was the woods they came from. If a fight broke out, Tsunade would have the most advantages in that area.

Xxx

"there's no way he could be _her_ kid. There would be no way the Old Man would allow _their_ kid to be running loose like this." Tsunade scowled as she thought to herself. Ever since their meeting the night before, the image of a little blond kid plagued her mind. His voice overlapping with two others. Suddenly, she felt a wave of chakra wash over her. It was a small wave, almost undetectable, but Tsunade didn't survive the third shinobi war and come out as one of the Sanin without being unable to detect a sensory technique. "Shizune. We're leaving" the blond said. There was no room for argument and the black-haired woman knew it. It wasn't a request, it was simply a statement, like the sky was blue. It was a tone that Shizune hasn't heard in many years.

"yes, Lady Tsunade"

Xxx

Tsunade growled. They left the inn as soon as they could, but just as they began to move, Tsunade knew they were going to be followed. "he's persistent" she muttered and picked up her pace. Even then, it seemed that her pursuers were not going to let her go so easily.

Several minutes later, they caught up.

Xxxxx

"be on your guard. Tsunade is a formidable ninja and has no reason not to attack us. Other than that, she has a reputable temper comparable to that of the Raikage. One wrong move and you will be nothing but a stain on the forest floor." Ao stated as they approached the location of the Sanin.

When they got within 100 meters of her, she stopped. Being ninja, this allowed them to easily surround her within a second.

"don't bother hiding" she said "I've known you were following me since you sensed me"

Raiga was the first to step out from his hiding place "now isn't that interesting. I believe I said something similar when you guys came to talk to me"

One by one, the other ninja revealed themselves from their hiding places with the exception of Naruto and Mangetsu who made a little show of crawling around the trees and over rocks in their liquid forms before reforming themselves next to the group.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the performance "Two Hozuki? I haven't seen any of them in a while. I didn't know you were one, Naruto."

 _"_ _that settles it. There is no way he is their kid. Neither of those two were Hozuki."_ She thought to herself _"yet something doesn't feel right"_

Naruto stepped forward "Lady Tsunade. I have come to ask of you to heal one of my friends…" Raiga knelt down and slowly set the bag on his back on the floor of the forest and unzipped his bag fully to reveal a boy inside "his name is Ranmaru."

Raiga reached into the bag and helped Ranmaru out. "he has been weak since before I met him 5 years ago. You are the best medic in all of the elemental nations. Please, give him his strength back" Raiga bowed, still holding Ramaru's hand in his own.

"Raiga Kurosuki, the Thunder of the Hidden Mist. Tell me, why should I help you when I haven't even helped my own village in the last 16 odd years?"

"I know that I may have performed many inhumane and unforgivable acts during my career, but that had nothing to do with Ranmaru. Ranmaru is innocent, so don't do it for a killer like me, but do it for an innocent boy who does not deserve to be confined and restricted his whole life."

"Please Lady Tsunade, name your price" Naruto spoke up.

"you will answer all my questions along with a sizable payment" Tsunade said.

"I will answer all your questions as long as it does not include confidential information and provide the payment" Naruto negotiated.

" _where will you get the money"_ was the thought of everyone there.

Tsunade once again looked at Naruto before sighing "Fine. I will take a look at him, but I can't guarantee that I will be able to restore him to full health. The longer the illness the harder it is to treat." She said before turning back the way they came "I'm not doing something as important as this in anything less than a hospital, even if it is a civilian one." Was her only explanation.

Xxxx

Hours later, Tsunade came out a private room in the hospital of Tanzaku town "Raiga, have you ever tried to ask any other doctor to treat him?" she asked as she wiped off some of her sweat.

"I left Mist the same day I met Ranmaru and I've been on the run ever since. I've only been able to get civilians to look at him and they all said it's a new type of illness that they've never seen before and none of their treatments worked." Raiga answered "what did you find?"

"no wonder he's still sick" Tsunade muttered "it's just a case of minor bloodline poisoning. It's rare and only occurs in shinobi. For whatever reason, the chakra mutates the blood and the blood becomes poisonous to the person. Ranmaru is lucky he doesn't use his chakra often so the poisoning is much easier to treat. Or else, like most of the Kaguya, he would have fallen beyond even my expertise. For now I've extracted all the poisonous blood from him. All that is left to do is training his underdeveloped and deteriorated muscles from being unused for so long."

Raiga dropped his head, partly in shame and partly to hide his look of relief.

"now as for my payment," Tsunade grinned evilly "Shizune, how much money do I owe?"

"You can't be serious Lady Tsunade! Charging them over 70 million Ryo for a procedure like that! And to a child no less!" Shizune protested.

"oh of course not Shizune. I'm not that heartless. I'll only charge them 1/10 of it" the legendary sucker replied smugly. "of course, if you can't pay the price of 7 million Ryo, you can always come with me and slowly work it off. It's not that bad once you get used to it, just ask Shizune!"

Naruto stood up "sorry Lady Tsunade, I'll have to reject your generous offer, as tempting as it seems," the blond slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a large scroll and unravelled it, "a deal is a deal."

Everyone watched as Naruto bit his thumb and swiped it across seven of the eight seals located on the scroll. In a poof of smoke, the scroll was covered and its contents hidden. When the smoke cleared, it was reveal that inside the seals in the large scroll… was another scroll!

Xxxxx

*inside a random room in the Leaf academy*

A certain gravity defying grey haired masked man sneezed, drawing the attention of all the Jonin in the room. "I feel like I've been ripped off" he muttered to himself.

"KAKASHI MY ETERNAL RIVAL! HAVE YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH BEEN COOLED DOWN TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT YOU HAVE BEEN OVERCOME BY A MERE COLD? THEN I, THE BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST OF THE LEAF, SHALL CHALLENGE YOU TO A HOT PEPPER EATING CHALLENGE TO REIGNITE YOUR FLAMES OF YOUUUTHHH!"

"are they always like that?" the Sand Jonin asked out loud.

"yes" came the unanimous response of all the Leaf ninja in the room (and the hidden ANBU agents).

Xxxx

*back in the hospital of Tanzaku town*

Resisting the urge to shout "copyrighted! Don't sue me!" at the top of his lungs, Naruto reached down and picked up the seven scrolls "Seven million ryo, as requested." He said with a bow.

Everyone stared at him in shock.

"where did you get that kind of money Naruto?" Fu asked.

Naruto looked at her sheepishly "yesterday. I may or may not have gotten kicked out of a casino… or five… for causing them to go bankrupt."

Haku facepalmed "only you would have insane luck like that Naruto…"

"R-right…" Tsunade coughed to regain her composure "as for my questions… my first question is, who are you?"

Naruto looked at his siblings in all but blood "I am Naruto, adopted son of Zabuza Momochi, brother to Haku and Fu."

"and your birth parents?"

"confidential"

Tsunade placed her head in her hands "that didn't help me at all" she muttered. "Wait, Zabuza Momochi? As in the Demon of the Hidden Mist? How did that happen?"

"it's a long story" Naruto, Haku and Fu chorused.

"well, that's about it. Shizune! I'm 7 million ryo richer and I plan to get some quality booze tonight. Don't try and stop me"

"yes Lady Tsunade" Shizune wept and followed her master out the door and simultaneously released the genjutsu on the civilians inside the hospital.

Xxxxxx

AN: and this will officially mark the end of the bridge between the Raiga arc and another training filler. After the training filler will be the Snow/Spring arc (due to popular demand) and I do plan a plot twist in it ?.

Chojuro: Hey! I didn't get any lines in the chapter! I beat everyone just forgot about me!4

Jackalope33: you were... uuhh… in the corner doing the important job of keeping Tonton company!

Tonton: Oink!

PS: if anyone is able to find me a Naruto world map (with all minor villages and as many towns as possible) I would be really grateful.

PPS: can anyone confirm how much Ryo are actually worth compared to real life? I don't want to accidently pop up with "1 mil ryo can buy 100 high quality weapons" meanwhile it is actually like 1/5 of the cost of 1 of them.

PPPS: this chapter may be the last chapter for a month or two. No, I am not abandoning the story. I am starting exams next week (oh joy) and off to holiday overseas almost right after. I will see if I can squeeze enough creative juice out my brain for one last chapter (like early Christmas chapter) but it is just going to be another training chapter.

Reviews:

Specterchilypeper: thanks and lol, make them unicorns that can turn back time and do whatever they want

Ladygoddess8: well as you can see here, most of it is probably going to killing Tsunade's liver xD, as for the last million, yeah I'll need to confirm the actual value compared to real life (like 5000 ryo = $5 based on how much dango cost in real life and how much Anko gets them for etc) before I do anything with it.

Noahendless: it may be a bug or something but I can see a youtube video above your name (still in the review box) lol?

Wyrtha: well as you can see, Tsunade has her suspicions but like in Canon, she doesn't recognize him or his name.

As for the leader, I'm not sure either, I've got memories of reading both of them as being leaders of the seven swordsmen, but that may have just been from other fanfiction (^.^ll) since neither of their wiki pages said anything about it. The only real hole I see in your theory of Zabuza's skill eroding is that I think since he has been constantly on the move and fighting off other hunter nin/whoever else would have helped him keep his edge or even get better at it. Definitely agree with you on Kakashi's skill being upheld due to ANBU and Gai though, and yeah, Wave Kakashi is definitely weaker than ANBU Kakashi.

BlackDragonShinigami: yup. Wouldn't exactly say "use" though Xd

(Guest) Gaganta: Honestly most of my information is second hand things I pieced together from multiple cross referencing from different authors and random videos (and honestly some of them left me confused AF).

Itachi didn't one shot him with Amaterasu, that would imply that Yagura was defeated. From what I saw, Itachi and his buddy (guy I don't remember who somehow has Zabuza's blade) lost the battle with Itachi fleeing and his buddy dying. My argument for base Minato hitting Obito has been and always will be that Minato was much more experienced and surprised a cocky Obito while Naruto doesn't have the same advantage. Biju mode gives him a huge strength and speed boost (still not quite Hiraishin speed though) but he doesn't have the element of surprise, the experience or Obito's cockiness.

Yeah I must have gotten my knowledge mixed up in another fanfiction with that. Actually now I need to watch all the episodes just to filter what was fanfiction and what was canon. BTW: my logic was under the assumption Zabuza fought Yagura to almost a standstill and not just get beat around and let live just for kicks like Hashirama did to Kakuzu.

Remember that Itachi _is_ stronger than Orochimaru by a decent margin (cutting his hand off during his time in Akatsuki, weakened Itachi sealing newly reformed Orochimaru with Totsuka Blade). And if you want to compare Naruto to Yagura, it's a bit unfair to go 3 tails Yagura vs 9 tails Naruto. If you look at it say, 3 tails Yagura vs 3 tails Naruto, Yagura stands a pretty decent chance of winning due to version 2 and being a kage level shinobi anyways.


	43. New sensei

Chapter 42

New sensei

"Mission Success" Mangetsu reported as he reformed himself inside the commander's tent "they are on their way back now"

Ryuji nodded, staring intently at the map "that's good. One less thing to worry about" he said and placed a marker on the map. "anything else of note happen?"

Mangetsu walked up and stood next to Ryuji and studied the map for a few minutes. "We came across Tsunade of the Sannin on the way back"

Ryuji's head snapped up "explain"

"yes, Child, explain." One of the elders, Makoto Suzuki piped up "Tsunade hasn't been spotted by even Konoha ninja in the last 15 years"

"perhaps it would be easier for them to explain themselves" Chukichi said, looking at the door just before a familiar pattern of knocking was heard. "enter, team Zabuza"

Xxx

As per Tsunade's orders, Ranmaru was walking on his own as opposed to riding on Raiga's back. Of course, due to his extended period of not walking and the muscles on his legs were not very developed. This drastically reduced the group's walking speed.

Naruto chatted idly with Haku and Chojuro while Fu walked with Ranmaru with Raiga observing the whole group from behind. Mangetsu had already gone ahead to report.

Finally, about an hour more of civilian paced walking, the shinobi arrived at a small town. Haku walked into a normal restaurant with a few scattered people enjoying their lunch while the rest of the group stayed outside and kept watch.

Approaching the bar counters Haku spotted the bartender cleaning one of the glasses and idly wondered if there was some curse where bartenders had to continuously polish the glasses for all of eternity. Haku shook his head and sat on one of the stools. "one Scattered Mist" he ordered. The bartender looked at him out of the corner of his eye "aren't you a little too young to order drinks, miss?"

Haku sent a slight bit of chakra into the table as his eyebrow twitched. The twitching was increased when he spotted the small smile tugging at the bartender's lips. "do not worry for me, I can hold my own. Also, I am male" he said, emphasising the last word with a small burst of chakra, barely noticeable to anyone less than a trained sensor.

The bartender's smile widened a miniscule amount as he turned around and handed started making the drink. As he did so, Haku observed the chandelier overhead. In the reflection he saw the bartender make small, almost unnoticeable finger movements as he mixed the ingredients.

"One Scattered Mist" the bartender said as he placed the drink in front of Haku "still sceptical about you holding your own though Mis- I mean Sir. These are made of some strong stuff. The strongest ingredients found from all over the Land of Water. There hasn't been a lot of the ingredients in stock lately but I think a lot should arrive soon. Apparently some rich businessman took interest and started funding the growth of it, should all be in stock in just over a year."

Haku nodded "I think I will come back and taste the products of his investment then" he said as he left a pouch on the table and downed the rest of the drink before leaving the glass on the table.

Putting the pouch in his pocket and reaching for the glass, the bartender noticed a small fog on the edge of the cup. He brought the glass closer for inspection and let out a loud bellow of laughter at what he found.

" _you suck, Decim"_

Xxxx

Arriving at the place Decim signalled at Chojuro raced through the handseals needed to unravel the genjutsu. The forest of trees fell away to reveal the hiding place of the Mist Rebels "welcome to the Rebels" Naruto said and grandly spread out his arms. Let's go report our return, shall we?" he said and headed towards the middle of the camp.

Raiga, noticing the beads of sweat on Ranamru's head, picked him up and placed him in the carry sack once more before following Naruto and ignoring the whispers and mistrusting glares of the other Rebels.

Xxx

"Come in Team Zabuza" said a voice from inside the tent and Raiga could feel the slight burst of chakra that was the protection seals being released.

The small tent could just barely fit the whole group with less than a meter space apart.

"Report" said the elder.

And report they did. Starting from when they arrived at the mine, to when they encountered Raiga, the battle, aftermath, and their stay in Tanzaku town.

Chukichi looked intently at Ranmaru who was cowering behind Raiga "you telling me that this little guy sensed Mangetsu from the beginning? That's impressive and slightly unbelievable. What clan are you from?"

"Unknown." Raiga said "I found him in a shack at a random village I was tasked to rid the bloodline users of back when I was still loyal to Yagura."

"I see" Chukichi looked at Ranmaru again "would you like to work under me, Ranmaru? As an apprentice. You have a rare gift and I can help you develop it further."

The small boy looked at the back of Raiga's head "I am Raigas' eyes. If he wishes for me to be yours then I will"

Raiga shifted his head just enough to look at Ranmaru out of the corner of his eye "Ranmaru. I have raised you for the past 6 years. You are an inseparable part of me. But it's time for you to make your own decision. You can stay with me, just as we have always been. Or you can go with Chukichi. Whatever you choose, I will stand by you." He said as he knelt down.

Ranmaru jumped out of the sack and looked in Raiga's eyes. "I will go. For your sake. I will come back and be even stronger. Will you still let me be your eyes then?"

"Of course. You are the best eyes a guy can ever ask for. Go, train under Chukichi. Once your training is done, return to me so I can have eyes many times sharper than before."

Ranmaru nodded and smiled at Raiga before walking to Chukichi.

"If that is all, Team Zabuza, dismissed." Ryuji said.

Xxx

"Dodge!" Hibiki Saito shouted as he swung his claymore down and shattered the earth Naruto was standing a second before "Faster!"

Naruto barely had time to move before the claymore turned into a senbon that was sent flying towards him and flew through the tree behind him… and a few trees behind that.

While still in mid-air Naruto cursed as he felt a slight resistance against his clothes. Out of the corner of his eye the blond ninja caught a glimpse of the sun being reflected off the ninja wire before the wires tightened and cut Naruto into several pieces.

Naruto's body parts fell onto the ground and bounced once before a poof of smoke engulfed it. Once it cleared the body parts were no more, instead there lay a cleanly diced up log.

Xxx

Hidden by the trees Suzuno Kamazuki kept her senses wide open to search for the blond ninja. "I've got you" she smirked and threw a kunai at a tree to her right. Naruto's eyes widened in slight surprise before he smirked and moved out of the way. "how did you know I was there?" Naruto asked.

"Call it a woman's intuition" Suzuno whispered from behind him.

Naruto nodded. "I see" he said before he collapsed into a puddle of water. "looks like just one step ahead isn't enough if I don't see your traps that alert you"

"you know it" Suzuno laughed as Hibiki landed next to her. "Naruto. Time to kick it up a notch" he shouted.

"you got it" Naruto replied from under him, his sharingan blazing and his three tome spinning. Hibiki stared at the sharingan eyes that told you that he knew what move you would make before you did.

"Sneaky brat" Suzuno muttered as she jumped away "you never did leave the area. You just liquefied yourself in a way that made it look like a water clone"

Naruto smirked and bursted out the ground behind Hibiki with his golden katana already in mid-swing. "I got you- huh?" Naruto muttered, confused as his swing was halted by seemingly no reason and allowing Hibiki time to turn around.

"chakra strings" was the only explanation he got as the hold on his sword was released.

Naruto nodded in understanding and charged at Hibiki again.

The two engaged in a furry of blocks, strikes and parries. Neither giving an inch. Naruto's smaller and more flexible body countering Hibik's strength and changing weapons. Whenever Naruto was about to land a hit Suzuno would divert or slow down his swing just enough for Hibiki to react and whenever Hibiki was about to change his weapon Naruto's sharingan could tell.

"Small amount of chakra for small weapons. Chakra in the legs and arms for heavy styled weapons, only arms for simply big weapons. Water natured chakra in the arms and hands for fluid movement" Naruto muttered before moving his eyes to glance at Suzuno for a second.

The puppeteer smirked and unrolled a scroll "it seems you've gotten used to Hibiki. How about me?" she said as she sent chakra to the scroll and summoned her puppet.

Xxxxxx

"Unlike Naruto and Fu, you do not have a giant powerhouse of chakra inside you to help you tank through tough situations, however you _do_ have your own unique set of skills. But first you must build your chakra up." Mangetsu explained.

Haku nodded "I am already aware of this and I've been training to increase my chakra as much as I can"

Mangetsu raised an eyebrow "oh really?" he said "then surely you can do this, **water style: giant water dragon jutsu** " Mangetsu shouted racing through handseals before placing his hands in the lake they were standing next to.

At first nothing happened. Then, slowly from the middle of the lake a small sprout appeared and kept growing. When it was about as high as the trees the rest of the face appeared. Piercing yellow eyes the half size of Haku and a long serpentine body that wrapped itself around the clearing multiple times.

Haku looked down to see the lake, about 15 meters deep and 20 meters radius, completely emptied save the occasional fish. The ice user slowly turned around to look at Mangetsu only to jump back in shock when he saw the head of the dragon looking over the Hozuki's shoulder.

"Well? Can you?" Mangetsu asked rhetorically.

Haku gulped "no" he said ashamed.

Mangetsu nodded, satisfied and sent the water back the lake "this is only a fraction what chakra powerhouses and Kage level shinobi can do. Kisame is estimated to have enough chakra to _flood_ Sunagakure if he wished. Of course I don't expect you to match those chakra monsters at your age, but I _do_ expect you to be able to do this much without much effort by the time things start heating up."

Haku nodded "I'll do it."

"Good now show me what you can do" Mangetsu said. "show me what jutsu you have. Then we can refine them to the point that you only need the barest number of handseals to perform them. I will train you until you are exhausted. Mentally, physically, and in the form of chakra.

Xxxxx

"Mangetsu asked me to help you. I can see why. Lightning chakra and the Sword of the Thunder God." Raiga said "but a sword is merely a tool. How good it is depends on the wielder. So tell me girl, how good are you"

Fu unsealed the hilt and was about to start sending chakra to it when Raiga stopped her. "I asked how good you are. Not how good the sword is. Battle me with these" he said and threw two boken at her. "These are my old training swords." He said and showed his own pair of boken.

Fu nodded and resealed the chakra sword before running forward with a boken in each hand.

"follow your instincts. They will tell you how to use the swords. If you are meant for duel wielding then your arms will move on their own." Raiga said while swinging his own wooden swords.

Fu narrowed her eyebrows and met his swords with her own causing the two to be at a standstill.

"Duel wielding is a gift. Sure, you can learn duel wielding with decades of practice, but few are ever willing to spend decades to learn one skill, instead opting for flashy jutsu or the stubble genjutsu. The people born with the gift will find the skill a second nature. Your body automatically responds to the call." Raiga said, pulling his swords back and sidestepped the unbalanced Fu before striking down with his left hand.

Fu, though surprised at the sudden loss of resistance, didn't stagger and instead used her momentum to fall into a handstand and used her leg to kick Raiga's forearm and diverted the strike away from her.

"Again"

Fu complied and charged forward once more. This time instead of simply crossing swords the two engaged in a furry of slashes, blocks and parries. Fu's nimble movements struggling to keep up with the experience of Raiga. Fu's thrust at Raiga's stomach was blocked. With her dominant arm occupied Raiga took a swipe at Fu's head. The mint haired jinchuriki leaned back and watched the stick pass in front of her eyes.

Fu pulled back for a moment before dashing in with one sword in front aiming to impale the older swordsman who stood still and waited until the last second before lifting his boken and diverting the strike allowing Fu to rush past him once again off balance.

Not giving Fu a chance to recover, Raiga dashed in and swung both arms down in a scissors motion. Fu raised her own arms and just barely managed to hold against Raiga's attack. Fu slowly pushed against Raiga's sword to his surprise. Fu was beating him in a contest of strength.

Fu took advantage of his moment of surprise and, with a burst of strength, threw Raiga's swords up as she got into his guard and slammed her swords against Raiga's midsection and throwing him back.

Fu looked to where Raiga was thrown and gasped for breath. In that last moment she felt her arms push even harder than she thought she could, it was as if the arms pushed themselves instead of her simply controlling them.

"Good" Raiga said from behind her, "you beat my water clone. It seems you have some talent after all. The path ahead of you will be long and hard, best get started."

Xxxx

"Raiga has joined the Rebels"

"The Rebels are growing little by little. As of now they have all but Samehada. If they get Kisame-"

"Enough. I have already taken measures to ensure that it is impossible for them to enlist Kisame. When the time comes, he will fight on our side.

"Fine. But we must do something about them before they grow too strong."

A pair of pink pupilless eyes opened "We will not lose. Six of the seven swords or not, they will not be able to withstand the might of the True Mist"

Xxxx

AN:extremely delayed happy holidays and happy new year everyone!

I received a few complaints about lack of romance, sharingan and how the story doesn't seem to be progressing.

1) the reason there hasn't been romance (or only slight hints) is because they're around 12-14. It just seems weird for 12 year olds to be in that kind of relationship. There will be more romance in at a later date (after the time skip which i will address in a moment). For now i will remove the romance section.

2) sharingan: i admit there has been a slightly less amount of sharingan action than i would have liked but with a normal sharingan i don't see how much more i can write about it without someone teaching Naruto how to use sharingan based genjutsu. So when the Mangekyo comes in there will be a more noticeable use of the sharingan

3)the lack of plot. The next arc will be the last filler arc. After this arc there will be a time skip where we can hopefully start getting to the good stuff.

4) i think i said this before but i plan to go back and rewrite the first few chapters when i stop procrastinating and also going to edit chapter 39 to include the sharingan in the fight with Raiga.

the summoned animals for Naruto for Fu have been confirmed but the summons for Haku are still open.

Special thanks to effectivesage for directing me to an amazing Naruto world map. If anyone wants to check it out it's on cdc4/f/2017/247/8/b/naruto_complete_world_map_by_fire_

Let's all give a warm welcome to Luciendar for agreeing to Beta *loud applause*

Review:

BlackDragonshinigami: what if i was to name it "Corrupt medic cheats money off little child"

Effectivesage: thanks for your support and the map!

Zeus501: you never know, maybe Tsunade isn't going back to the village ;)

: thanks

Wyrthra: she understands cause all shinobi have their own secrets. It's in their nature

DocRoy: because background and not give it so an under trained experiment

Rayne Arianna Maranochi: like i said above, you dont know for sure she's going back to the leaf ;)

25: what i said to DocRoy

inuyasha16451: Glad you think so. here's the next chapter

LetsSeeIfICanDoThisToo: Sad to see you go. just gonna put this here if you ever come back. the story is slow because there needs to be a buildup before a couple of kids can actually change anything. for now its just prepping for war.

Lucidendar: yes Kakashi lived through the war and had a lot of experience as an ANBU captain but there was a period of time after he resigned as ANBU and i think his skills dulled in that time, unlike Zabuza who has been constantly needing his skills. Itachi may have two Mangekyo against Kakashi's one normal, but you'd think if Kakashi was an S-rank shinobi he'd be more cautious.


	44. Yuki Fujikaze

Chapter 43

Yuki Fujikaze

A single kunai stood still impaled on the branch of a tree, the bandages wrapped around its hilt had come loose and was now swaying in the wind. A forest once blooming with life, now nothing but a desolate battlefield filled with corpses and discarded weapons.

"There's nowhere left to go. They have already cut of the route ahead of us." A middle-aged man with dust brown hair said sombrely while using his sword as a crutch.

"This kind of journey… was impossible from the start." Another gasped from his position on the ground.

"Let's give up" said a third from his slouched lookout position on the branch of a tree.

A young woman stood up "I still believe there is a way" she said with determination "we will find it."

"But princess-!"

"We cannot give up hope!" she interrupted.

An evil laugh sounded from the castle above them catching their attention and making them turn towards it. "Princess Gale! This is as far as you go!"

"Demon! So you are the one who made this storm!" shouted the brown haired man.

Unbeknownst to the four, a dark figure rose up from behind the princess with its sword raised high.

"Princess watch out" a voice shouted from the crowd.

XXX

"So this is why people enjoy these movies so much" Haku mused as he eyed the small kid who shouted at the screen. "The acting, the sound effects, the way the movie keeps you anticipated for what comes next makes the audience believe they are part of the scene and that their voices can be heard."

Fu nodded "not to mention how the director stubbly manipulates them by making the audience love the protagonist and want them to survive to a happy ending. What do you think Naruto?"

"interesting move by a princess" Naruto mused as he watched princess Gale twist to dodge the massive sword before revealing a dagger hidden in her sleeves which she thrusted towards the risen samurai. A wave of wind was visible as it shot towards the figure and completely obliterated it.

"and here comes the cliché part" Haku heard someone from the crowd mutter "destroy one then suddenly a whole lot appear." Sure enough, as soon as the broken armour hit the ground, more samurai with glowing eyes and bulky armour started to rise across the wasteland.

XXX

"Princess! I suggest you give up!" The demon shouted with glee.

"I won't give up. As long as I am alive I will fight. Watch as i carve a way out of your army!" The princess shouted back as an aura of rainbow colors appeared around her.

XXX

"A lightshow?" Fu muttered curiously "I know ninja with strong chakra can make it visible at will, but I've never heard of it being more than one color."

XXX

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you!" The demon said as he summoned a storm and and sent it at the group.

The three male guards moved to stand around the princess as they all held up their weapons in a protective stance. The rainbow aura expanded to encompass them as well. Together, they brought the swirling storm to a halt. Princess Gale let out a battle cry and thrust her sword towards the storm. A beam of light pierced through the storm without effort and continued to swallow up the surprised demon.

With the summoner gone, the storm of malice that encompassed the area cleared and a rainbow appeared on the horizon.

"Let's go together, to the edge of that rainbow" princess Gale pointed with a large and confident smile.

XXX

"So that was a movie" Haku mused from on top of the theatre while keeping an eye on Naruto who took out his golden katana in an attempt to recreate the move the princess used.

"Yes, and the actor of the main character, Yuki Fujikaze is our top priority. Her next shoot is in the Land of Snow and her supervisor wanted to make sure nothing happened to her." Hibiki said.

Naruto stopped in his thrusting and turned to look at the older ninja. "Why hire us then? Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy these missions, but if it's a high priority client, wouldn't it be better to ask one of the other Four great villages? You know, the ones that aren't in the middle of civil war"

"Iwa is known for their quick temper and stubborn attitude, not to mention they specialized in earth based jutsu. Kumo, though strategically the best choice due to their close proximity to the Land of Snow and militaristic might, aren't exactly known for missions in escorting, possibly due to the scandal with Konoha a dozen years back. Suna… well that's kinda obvious. Hard to get to, not really good to have people who are used to scorching heat protecting in the snow. Konoha, well they were weakened quite severely in the last few years too. The loss of their Yondaime, the whole Uchiha clan both within the span on 10 years left quite the blow on their once proud force. The reason we were chosen could've possibly been because we were the cheapest or since we come from the Land of Water, we're often masters of water style which would be a huge benefit against pirates on the sea. I suppose he could have gone to the Loyalists but Yagura probably turned him down." Hibiki explained.

"He? You mean that guy coming up the stairs now?" Fu asked.

The teens turned to the doorway just in time to see it be opened by a guy who had short grey hair with a beard and moustache and small eyes. He wore small glasses and a long blue sleeve shirt with a blazer over it. "Sorry I'm late. My name is Sandayu Asama and I know it may seem sudden, but I need you to track down Yuki for me."

"Found him" Naruto said and pointed to Haku with a grin. His efforts were promptly awarded by a punch from the other male. "Yuki Fujikaze you idiot. Not me."

"What do you mean track her down? Was she kidnapped?" Fu asked.

Sandayu shook his head "No. not kidnapped. She ran away"

Hibiki adopted a serious look "Team Zabuza. Fan out. Naruto make some shadow clones to help. I want her found and brought back here within the hour. Sandayu-san, you and I are going to have a little chat where you explain everything."

The older man bowed his head while the teens and clones jumped off the rooftop in search of the actress.

XXX

 _"I won't go there! I can't go there"_ Yuki Fujikaze thought desperately. As she ducked and weaved through the crowd. After a while she noticed something was wrong. A portion of the crowd seemed to be staring at her and looking at something in their hands. Yuki wasn't sure they were looking at her or it was just her imagination but decided to play it safe and ducked into an alleyway. And after a few turns she pulled out her pocket mirror to check if she was followed. Once she was satisfied nobody was behind her, Yuki breathed a sigh of relief and put her pocket mirror away. When Yuki looked up again she was met with the face of a dozen of the people who she passed and got the feeling was following her. The runaway actress screamed and jumped back in fright "What do you want!"

"Yuki Fujikaze?" one that looked like a farmer asked.

The actress tried to keep calm and put her acting face on "I'm afraid you got the wrong woman."

Another one, a small boy that looked about 7 years old stepped forward "I'm afraid you'll have to come with us" he said in the same tone as the other guy.

Unnerved, Yuki did the only thing she could do in this situation, she bolted away from the group of weird people.

"It's no use to run Yuki. We will find you just as easily if you do"

XXX

Yuki panted while she leaned against a wall for support. I was just so unnatural that both an old farmer and a young boy had the exact same voice, not to mention how all these different people wanted her. The actress was no stranger to being wanted, being a renowned actor ensured that she had lots of fans almost everywhere. Her looks and money were also factors that drew many people to her. Rich, poor, young, old, even some women sought after her. But never had they had such eerily similar voices, and never had they cornered her in an alleyway without her noticing.

Suddenly a young woman with long brown hair and a bun holder stepped out from the shadows "Yuki, please stop running. I do not wish to resort to force."

Yuki made to run to the end of the alleyway but before she got there a young girl wearing a short sleeveless white shirt that stopped at her toned stomach and a white apron skirt. "Hi! I'm Fu!"

In a swift movement Yuki reached to her earring and activated its hidden mechanism, spraying Fu in the face with red pepper dust.

Fu yelped in pain as Yuki barged past her and slipped on ice that Haku discretely made. Yuki's eyes widened in shock and fear when she saw the white sheen on the ground. In her shocked state she didn't see Haku walk up behind her and knock her out with a chop to the neck.

XXX

"… and that is everything I know" Sandayu ended. "I'm sorry I mislead you but you must understand that I could not afford to let just anyone know. Doto has spies everywhere."

Hibiki sighed and rubbed his forehead "be glad you asked us for this mission. I know some of the other village wouldn't be as forgiving as I am, hell I think a few of them would beat you up and/or kill you before they abandoned the mission."

Sandayu looked up hopefully "So you'll continue the mission?"

Hibiki nodded "and here comes Yuki"

The old man looked in slight shock at the bound and unconscious Yuki being carried over Haku's shoulder.

"She didn't want to comply" Haku shrugged.

"At least they got her back quickly?" Sandayu turned to Hibiki awkwardly.

XXX

A day of sailing later, the group of hired body guards couldn't decide who was the biggest threat. Them, or Yuki. The actress had been a complete pain to everyone ever since she woke up and discovered she was on a ship to The Land of Snow. Sure, she was still the amazing actress during filming, but once the camera stopped rolling, she was back to her nasty self. There had been no signs of pirates or other danger anywhere, so the only thing left to do was listen to the tempered actress rant.

Haku lazily threw an ice senbon into the air and pierce through a flying bird, only for the bird to disperse into a cloud of smoke "good idea, bad execution. There are no Robins this far out at sea." He drawled before going back into a meditative stance. The ship had stopped again for another shoot and there was no wind that was passing through. The water was about as calm as water on the sea can be.

Haku took a deep breath and sent his chakra through the hull of the ship and into the sea. A single bead of sweat trickled down his brow as he tried to mix his chakra with the water and keep it together long enough to mould the water without it dispersing.

Finally, after a while, Haku released his hold on the water and opened his eyes to see everyone staring at him. Taking note of his surroundings was covered in ice spikes going from where he sat and stretching to the edge of the boat. A quick glance over the side revealed that the spikes continued until they reached the waterline before stopping.

The ice ninja looked sheepishly at the crew "Sorry I got carried away"

XXX

AN: Happy Chinese New year to everyone, especially my Chinese buddies here!

Just a heads up, last chapter I said this will be the last filler arc, but it will actually be a combined 3 arcs so it will be quite a length compared to the previous arcs. I thought about some routes I could take in the last arc and came to the conclusion that one of two routes could be take. Now, unlike the previous times where I told you what the routes would be, I'm just going to ask you readers to pick either

Option 1

Or

Option 2

The summoned animals for Naruto for Fu have been confirmed but the summons for Haku are still open.

Also my last update got more reviews from new people in old chapters than old ones lol. Come one my dedicated followers! I know you're there! (considering you just read that…), you going to let people who just joined us to beat you in review count?

A lot less to say compared to previous AN I guess.

Reviews:

Guest: thanks

Inuyasha16451: thanks. Here you go

Wyrtha: well its war, its impossible they _all_ survive :P

Stormdragon981: the original plan was it to have different abilities (like how Itachi has different to Shisui) but the exact abilities aren't written in stone yet. If you have any ideas feel free to propose them. And no, they will be the same way of activation (some foreshadowing right here)

Born2BeGodLike: good to see you enjoying the story so far, sorry to put more training chapters but they are needed to bridge the gap between arcs

Thor94: thanks and yes they did.

Noahendless: thanks

BlackDragonShinigami: good to hear

Vampwalker709: yes, I've watched the show. From what I could gather Naruto was only dead last because he couldn't keep his attention long enough to learn and his increased strength during the timeskip was due to his new determination and someone there (somewhat) to help correct him.

Lol try facing a thousand kage-level shinobi with the swordsmanship skills of a veteran samurai.

The idea wasn't that he could have crushed Haku easily, Naruto saw Haku as a dear friend and brother and since its Naruto, he's not gonna go around beating up friends unless its to beat some sense into them or in a spar.

Naruto struggled against Neji was first due to his brawler style against a guy who specialized in close range, he couldn't really spam a ton of clones because it _is_ still an A-ranked forbidden technique due to chakra cost and if he did that wouldn't be great for the storyline.

Its not often he tries to find out the sex of his enemy xD only a few times, like that time with Haku he didn't even know Haku was the enemy.

Dragonmare97: and here people are saying fangirls are useless lol


	45. Welcome to the Land of Snow

Chapter 44

Welcome to the Land of Snow

"Is that so? She carries the hexagonal crystal on her?" deep voice asked, placing down a cup of liquid on the armrest of his throne.

"There's no doubt. The actress Yuki Fujikaze is Koyuki Kazahana." A second, lighter voice said in a dark room, his kneeling figure illuminated by the barest of light of the moon.

"Our efforts these past 10 years haven't been wasted" a third, clearly female voice added.

"This should be a piece of cake. She's just a girl." A fourth, gruff voice muttered as a cloud covered the light of the moon and the room was plunged into darkness.

XXXXX

"Daddy" a small child called into the darkness. "Where are you daddy?" her voice echoed through the distance. The only response to her call was the ever present falling of snow. Her feet prodded softly on the wooden platform leading to the house. "Daddy?"

A from inside the house, a dim light was seen.

"Daddy?" she called.

A back turned to face her, revealing a face with large black eyes partially hidden behind a pair of circular framed glasses. "oh its Koyuki. Come inside." He smiled kindly.

The innocent girl, Koyuki walked into the dimly lit room and looked around. Her father was seated on one of the edges of several mirrors arranged in a hexagonal shape. "now stay there and don't move" her father instructed. "What do you see?"

"I see… Father and me" she replied

"Look closer" he said "and you can see the future"

The girl moved closer and peered intently at her reflection. Suddenly, flashes of explosions and fire appeared, followed by her image trapped in a block of ice, and finally of her falling into the vast waters.

XXXX

Yuki Fujikaze slowly opened her eyes, awoken by the sun shining through the small window in her room. Her eyes glazed over as she looked around. The actress rubbed her eyes just as a knock on the door sounded "Are you awake Miss Yuki?"

"Sandayu, bring me some water" she groaned. "Am I sick?" she wondered out loud "why do I feel like I'm still swaying?"

"You're not sick. Have you forgotten? You're on a ship" Sandayu answered as he handed her a cup of water.

Yuki looked down into her cup as the memories of the night before came back to her. She had just finished another scene and voiced her displeasure about going to Snow Country again.

*flashback*

"I don't want to go back to that place of lies again!" Yuki shouted.

"Place of lies? Back?" Fu asked. "You came from there?"

"Fu. Enough" Hibiki said firmly.

"You had a place called home" Naruto growled.

Yuki sneered at them "And so what? I also had a liar of a father. A father that gave false hopes, and guess what? He died. He died as a fool."

The air around them started to grow cold. First it was slowly and barely noticeable, then it started to pick up pace. A small chill in the actress's back was brought to attention. A chill that she had thought nothing of, a figment of her imagination. She realized that it wasn't just herself that had the chill when the next time she breathed out, it was visible.\

"You had a father that died trying to reach that dream. You had a father that loved you to the end." Haku snarled back and sharp spikes of ice started to form on the ship around him. "You have no idea how fortunate you are-"

"Haku. That is enough." Hibiki said as he put a hand on Haku's shoulder and spiked his chakra. Hibiki knew that his chakra wouldn't intimidate Haku into submission, but it didn't need to.

Haku took a deep breath and stopped his subconscious output of chakra. Slowly the spikes melted, and the temperature returned to normal. "I apologize for my behaviour" he bowed and turned to walk away with Hibiki.

Naruto lingered a bit longer "It isn't easy to anger Haku" he said "Haku is the most level headed out of the three of us but even he has his limits. Once those break, I cannot promise I will protect you from him" Naruto said and flashed his sharingan out to glare at the unnerved actress.

A small part of her mind noted _"I cannot promise I will protect you from him"._ the hidden threat of watching on the side lines and not even lifting a finger to help, or even joining in with Haku was implied. Pushing down her unease, she looked at the remaining member of her bodyguards. "What? You got something to say too?" she snarked.

Fu snorted "I follow my brothers" was her only response.

 _"great I was just threatened by 3/4 of my body guard team"_ she thought sarcastically.

After that she had somehow found a stash of liquor and proceeded to drink herself unconscious.

*flashback end*

Yuki frowned into her reflection "what do they know" she muttered and downed the entire glass in one go.

XXXXX

"DIRECTOR! THERE'S A PROBLEM!" one of the crew shouted.

Less than a minute later the elderly director slammed open the door to the outside with his red speaker in hand "Wha-" he began then paused when he saw the gigantic iceberg.

The landscape had been almost completely altered. Where yesterday there was open ocean for as far as eyes could see, now in front of them was nothing but a frozen tundra what had no way around.

"Hey Haku, did you do that" Naruto whispered.

"Do I have you monster reserves?" he replied rhetorically.

"I woke up this morning and saw this" the one who shouted explained as the director frowned and eyed the iceberg with a critical eye. "Director! What do we do?"

The director's eyes widened in realization "I got it! We can use this for the movie! In fact we can even use this for the cover image!"

"huh"

"you idiot! This is a gift from the Movie Gods! Everyone get ready to disembark!" the director commanded excitedly.

XXXXX

"Scene 36 Cut 22… Action!"

The rest of the crew watched as the guy playing as the villain stood on top of a raised block of ice carry out his role of threatening the princess. "You are no match for me!" he claimed and threw out his hand "ha!"

Just then a section of the glacier behind him exploded.

The actor blinked in surprise. _"this wasn't part of the play"_ he thought as he turned around to see the smoke billowing from where the explosion came from.

"what are you doing!" the director shouted at Hibiki who had his arm stretched from when he threw the explosive kunai.

"Everyone get behind me! Now!" Hibiki bellowed and narrowed his eyes at the place where he sensed a disturbance of chakra.

True to his suspicions, a moment later, a small section on the ground started moving before it was discovered to be a camouflage sheet. The sheet was thrown back by a man with purple hair and body armour "welcome to The Land of Snow" he said.

Hibiki turned his head to look to the right of where the "villain" was played by an elderly actor to see a lady with pink hair and also wearing body armour "Welcome back, Princess Koyuki. Did you bring back the Hexagonal Crystal?"

A large man burst from the snow not far right from where the rest of the crew were standing. "Let's play"

Hibiki gritted his teeth _"looks like they're all at least high chunin level"_ he thought as he analysed their pose, body structure and chakra levels. "Naruto, Haku, Fu! Protect the princess! Everyone else, back on the ship!" he shouted.

The apparent leader looked down at the crew scurrying about "Fubiki, Mizore. I'll leave the princess to you." He said as he jumped down towards Hibiki.

"Fine" said the woman as she jumped down after him.

"My name is Nadare Roga" said Nadare as he stood in front of Hibiki.

"Hibiki Saito" Hibiki said as he charged towards Nadare.

Xxx

"come one guys! Let's not let sensei hog all the glory!" Naruto smirked and charged towards the large man on the right.

"I'm in my element Naruto, I should be the one who's more excited" complained Haku.

"Fine, fine" Fu rolled her eyes "I'll just be here on guard duty. Sheesh, boys, taking all the fun"

"You think this is a game?" Yuki, or Koyuki, said "those two are going to get killed!"

"Just watch, princess" Fu deadpanned "we three aren't exactly pushovers"

XXX

Nadare vs Hibiki

Just by glancing at Hibiki, Nadare knew that he was no match for him in a contest of physical strength. The snow ninja held his hands palm up and got in a defensive stance as the Mist ninja got within range and threw a straight punch. _"fast"_ thought Nadare as he barely managed to divert it in time to avoid having his head blown off.

Still on the offensive, Hibiki spun on his foot and used the momentum to swing his other arm around making Nadare curse as he was forced to bring his arms up to block. The impact of the arm jarred his bone and Nadare had no doubt they would have been broken if it wasn't for his armour. Before Nadare had time to recover, Hibiki was upon him again. Nadare took a knee to the stomach before dodging another strike to his head.

Now behind Hibiki's exposed back, Nadare took out a hidden Kunai and stabbed it at the large man's spine. His eyes widened when Hibiki reacted much faster than he expected and dodged the stab and delivered a kick that sent Nadare flying a distance away.

Hibiki panted slightly at the fast exchange and gazed upon the body a few meters away in the white snow "I know it takes more than that to take you down Nadare. Don't play possum with me"

Nadare's laughter echoed around through the snow "Not bad. I am definitely not a match for your taijutsu, luckily that's not where I specialize in. **Ice style: wolf fang avalanche!** "

 _"ice style?"_ Hibiki thought as he looked up at the wolves descend from the top of the mountain "HA! You call that Ice style? You almost worried me for a second" Hibiki laughed and looked at Haku.

XXXX

Haku vs Fubuki

"I do not wish to harm you" Haku said softly as he readied a senbon.

"oh, give me a break, little girl, as if you can match up against me!"

Haku bowed his head "very well" he said as he disappeared in a burst of speed and appeared behind the kunoichi. He threw a kick at her back and was unsurprised to see her dodge it easily. Haku recovered quickly to see her quickly jump back a distance. **"ice style: swallow snow storm"** she said and sent a cluster of swallows made of snow at Haku.

"So you can use ice style too? Intresting." Haku muttered and stamped his foot " **ice style: a thousand flying needles of death"**

Fubuki looked in shock as Haku's ice needles effortlessly pierced through the middle of each of her swallows and cancelled out her jutsu. "Just who are you" she snarled.

"Its's common courtesy to give out your own name when asking for others" Haku replied while marvelling at the effects of his jutsu " _that took virtually no chakra, and that's more needles than I expected"_ he smiled inwardly _"looks like this is my turf advantage."_

"I am Fubuki Kakuyoku. Member of Doto's 3 man team"

"Haku Yuki. Sole survivor of the Yuki Clan"

With the introductions out the way, the two began their battle once more.

XXX

Naruto vs Mizore Fuyukuma

Mizore pulled out his snowboard from behind him and made his way down hill to meet Naruto head on.

Naruto looked at the man barrelling towards him and deadpanned "you really expecting me to run into that?" he said before taking out an explosive kunai and throwing it right into the path of the large snow ninja.

The resulting blast threw him off the snowboard and sent the board flying off into the ocean below.

Naruto watched the man warily. Despite being blasted off his board while coming down the mountain, the man didn't look that badly damaged, in fact, if anything the loss of his board only served to mildly irritate him.

Naruto dug his foot into the snow underneath him and held his arm up. "You're big and you're bulky. That makes you slow" Naruto taunted.

He was proven wrong a second later when the man charged at him at speeds much faster than he expected. This would have been his downfall if his honed instincts make him jump back just before the man's giant armoured hand crashed down and shattered the ice about a foot deep where the blond ninja was standing a second before.

Naruto's eyes widened for a second as the man quickly recovered from his miss and swung his body into a handstand before dropping his leg down in a variation of a guillotine drop. "I take it back, you're actually pretty good" Naruto admitted as he backflipped out of the way.

The snow ninja merely ignored him and jumped forward to cover the distance with his arm cocked back.

"good enough I'll have to use this" Naruto muttered as the blue sharingan with three tome faded into his eyes. "with this, I see everything" Naruto claimed as time seemed to slow down. Naruto saw how air was blasted out the back of the gauntlet on the man's arm and how the force of it pushed him forward at speeds faster than normal. He saw how the gauntlet was aimed at his head and moved his head just enough so the attack would miss and make the large shinobi barrel past him and punch the glacier behind.

Naruto frowned as he watched a small shield of chakra surround the man protect him from the large pieces of falling ice blocks, leaving him virtually unscathed. "just what is that" Naruto muttered.

AN: wow 2 weeks pass so quickly. It feels as if I just posted the last chapter a few days ago…

The first battle of our spring/snow arc is underway! The snow ninja being formidable enough for Naruto to reveal his sharingan this early in the battle! Actually I just put it there because there has been complaints it isn't getting enough screen time. I hope that satisfied enough of your hunger for the copy eye.

As I said last chapter, this is a combination of 3 arcs. After a bit of debating for the final piece of the arc I am to two routes I could take. Now I'm not going to tell you what it is, except that you can influence it by choosing

 **Option 1 (1 score so far)**

or

 **Option 2**

Lastly, the summon animals for Naruto and Fu _have_ been decided _but_ the summons for Haku are still up for debate.

Summons proposed so far:

· Penguins

· Wolf : (I'm not accepting this for the sole reason Naruto is already getting it.)

 **PS: sorry for the encoded chapter**

Reviews:

Dexter44: Here's your action, served refreshingly cold with a hint of glacier

Inuyasha16451: thanks

StormDragon981: those sound pretty good, a bit like over enhanced Ameterasu and normal sharingan mixed with Tsukuyomi and Izanami though.

Susanoo will stay as Susanoo, as good as your idea sounds, I already have plans with that particular technique.

Zeus501: well you can assume he was in the shadows in case Yuki somehow escaped Haku _and_ Fu (as unlikely as it is). And let's just say the final battle with Yagura won't be long after this arc ;). Also, you're the only one who voted last chapter, so thanks for that.

Wyrtha: Thanks. That's true, unless a certain author steps in and makes some decisions that will make a bunch of readers unhappy… yeah

Sadhaka: thanks for your criticism (even though you probably won't read this). From your reviews, a large majority are pointed towards lack of description with the occasional shot at me taking away their individuality and debatable fighting techniques. That's cool with me. You gave me criticism that was helpful, and I will do my best to try to rectify my mistakes.

Ladygoddess8: haha that would be quite a sight, though I'm not sure I would be able to supress the urge to include the penguins of Madagascar. None the less, I shall put it on the list of options.

Gruntsbreeder: thanks

Eeveetheimmortal: thanks for your input, but I'm afraid I can't accept this for the sole reason Naruto is already getting it.

: thanks

Noahendless: thanks

Fanficlover2017: Naruto does know of his heritage (in fact the whole of "chapter 27: History" was dedicated to it). As for going back to Konoha, well not to stay there permanently. I do try follow the cannon storyline as close as I can while still maintaining the differences between my fic and the original. Thanks for the review and hope you enjoyed the chapter!


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